New Beginings
by CrispyPidgeon
Summary: New Chapter up! When Horatio's niece comes to Miami, she isn't looking for love. In fact, she's looking to run! Ryan/OC
1. Chapter One

AN: Okay this is officially my first story so pleaseeeeee be nice. I need _Constructive_Criticism. So heres the disclaimer and stuff. Ahem. I do not own CSI: Miami or anything related. I own Anya and the plot. And that's just barely.

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Chapter One

My first day in Miami sucked. Well, first I should explain who I am. My name is Anya Martin. Anastasia but Anya. I hate my real name. I have black hair and green eyes. I'm pretty short and people tell me I have two mind settings: hurt and relax. This is not true. My facade at work doesn't reflect on my nonprofessional lifestyle.

Anyway, I have been described as volatile. This is not true either. I just have a really short fuse with people I can't stand. And because I teach Tae-Kwon-Do, my bosses are constantly warning people about me.

So, I step off my plane and walk over to the luggage. Guess what. Apparently my 4 suitcases were sent to Guatemala. Silly me. I'm sure I put MIAMI, FLORIDA on those bags.

Next I get my rental car only to have it break down on some road where the only thing in sight is a bank. Yippee. I get out my cell phone thinking 'At least I can call someone.' IT DIED ON ME!! My day just couldn't get worse. Sighing I walk across the street and into the bank and suddenly realize I'm screwed. There was only 12 people in the place including the tellers. This is where my story starts.

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Anya walked into the bank, expecting to see computers, cameras and normal bank-ish things. No, instead she found a counter with 5 people behind it. In the lobby there was only 7 people including me. Her eyes drifted over the first man. When he saw her he smiled a pedosmile. The only trouble was he had maybe 4 teeth left. Not wanting to be rude, she smiled back and quickly turned around, searching for someone who might have a cell phone. She scanned the crowd until she found him.

He was standing in line behind a woman who was turned around and blatantly staring at him. The woman behind him kept grabbing his body. He looked around pleadingly and she cast him a sympathetic glance. When their eyes locked her heart stopped for a moment. His eyes were a beautiful hazel color, and maybe it was he imagination but she could swear they had flecks of gold in them. They stayed like that for a few moments until the fat woman grabbed his butt.

It took her a few moments, but she finally got the courage to go over there. She walked up to the man and gave him a dazzling smile.

"Hi honey." she said, hoping he'd play along. The man gave her a relieved look and stepped out of line, much to the fat woman's displeasure. Noticing that the lady was staring, Anya pulled him to the side. When they were out of earshot, she began laughing. The smirked at her.

"Thanks for saving me. I'm Ryan Wolfe." the man, Ryan said. His name fit him.

She stopped laughing and spoke "Your welcome. My name's Anastasia, but please call me Anya. And actually I had alterior motives. Do you have a cell phone?"

Ryan looked at her quizzically, like "Who doesn't?" and she sighed. "My flight just came in 4 and a half hours ago. My luggage was lost, my car broke down and my cell phone just died. I just need to call my Uncle Horatio." she said, giving him her best puppy-dog look.

Ryan's eyes widend, and he opened his mouth to say something when the sound of broken glass filled the room. Smoke clogged her vision and she and Ryan began coughing.

Yells of "Get on the ground" filled the air. She felt someone grab her and press something cold and hard against her head. "Scream and you die." He whispered.

When the smoke cleared, she noticed that she was the only that had a gun to her head. She spotted Ryan and he was talking.

"Look, I'm with Miami Dade PD, okay. We'll give you what you want, just let the girl go." He said.

The man that held Anya nodded to two other men to check Ryan out. They patted him down, took his gun and service pistol. When that was done they practically threw Anya at him. Before she could fall, he caught her in his arms and didn't let her go.

"Alright. Hostages! We will not hurt you if you do as we say. First pair off. Two in a group."

Ryan still hadn't let go of Anya. The man came by and smirked. "Now. No one leaves their partner. So if one of you dies then the other does too, for example," he looked among the faces and his eyes rested on the toothless man and fat woman. He raised his gun and shot the man in the head. The fat woman screamed and Anya buried her head in Ryan's chest. His arms tighted around her and he felt a weird sensation in his chest.

"Because toothless has died, that means," he looked at the fat woman, who was begging him not to kill her, "that slim here must die also." he said, shooting her too.

Anya raised her head. "You monster! How could you just kill someone like that?! Do you have no regard for human life?!"

The man narrowed his eyes. "Come here bitch." When Anya didn't move he reached out and grabbed her by the hair. "I SAID COME HERE!" he yelled, yanking her upwards hard. She yelped and when Ryan went to help her, a rifle was pointed into his face. "

"Don't ya move, ya hear?!" said another man with a thick country accent.

The leader pulled her up looking directly into her eyes he said, "Your a pretty bitch. I'm going to have fun with you."

"Don't even think about it." She said as his hand crept lower.

The man laughed and threw her back on the floor. "Okay. Who has a cell phone?"

Ryan handed over his s he helped Anya up. Before he could get a good look at her, they were roughly shoved into a doorway that led to behind the counter by the country man.

"This is where ya'll be stayin'."

He left and Ryan inspected Anya's face. She wasn't too banged up but her lip was split and bleeding pretty badly. He ripped a piece of his shirt, which he knew was going to drive him crazy later.

"Here," he said handing it to her. "Dab it on your lip."

She smiled. "Thanks."

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After three hours of silence, Ryan finally spoke. "So what brings you to Miami?"

Anya flinched. "Well, I come from New York. My life became...complicated, and I needed a change of scenery."

"So what do you do?" he asked.

"I'm a veterinarian. My Uncle Horatio said he found me a position down here so I took it."

"Horatio as in Horatio Caine."

"Yes. Before my mom got married she was Amylia Caine. You know him?"

"Actually I work for him. I'm a CSI."

"Really? That's interesting. I don't think I could be one. Too much blood, guts, and gore. Although those men seemingly have no problem with killing," she seethed.

"You don't like hurting people do you?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, I have no problem hurting people. I teach Tae-Kwon-Do. I just can't stand seeing others kill for no reason. Self Defense is another thing entirely." As she spoke she realized that she said too much and immediately closed her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Ryan asked, that feeling creeping back up.

"I'm just tired. Long day," she spoke as if she wanted to sleep. "I'm not usually so forward, but may I borrow your shoulder?" she asked, blushing.

Ryan nodded and opened his arms to her. She scooted forward and laid her head on his chest.

'Thank you for caring." she spoke. His chuckle was the last thing she heard.

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Ryan smiled down at the sleeping woman. He remembered Horatio talking about his niece. She was going to be a vet, for now but hadn't Horatio said something about her working at the lab?

He took in her features. She was beautiful. From her silky black hair that reached her lower back, to her green eyes that seemed to be every color at once. He distinctly remembered Alexx, who had met Anya when she was little, speaking about Anya.

_"That girl has got her father's intelligence, her mother's good looks, and the devil's own charm." _

He was beginning to see that this was true. He barely knew her for six hours, and she was already his friend. There was something about her that made him feel protective.

When that man grabbed Anya, Ryan wanted nothing more than to rip his head off. He had been angry and scared, but not for him. For her.

But what scared him the most? He didn't mind these feelings.


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: If I owned CSI: Miami two things would happen. 1) I would be extremely rich and 2) I would write either myself or JauntyChick's character into the script! So, because Ryan has not fallen madly in love with either, I do not own CSI:Miami.  
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Chapter Two

(Anya's POV)

I woke with a start, to the sound of police sirens. When my eyes adjusted, I could see that I was on Ryan's chest, and his arm was wrapped tightly around me. From the feel of things, I could tell he was very muscular.

Needing to get up, I poked Ryan in the stomach. "Ryan," I whispered, "get up. The police are here."

He mumbled something about evidence and sighed. I rolled my eyes. "Ryan!" I said.

His eyes shot open, and it took him a moment to realize where he was. He looked at me, and I looked at him from my position on his chest.

"Ryan the police are here." I said, not really wanting to get up.

He unwrapped his arm from around me and I shivered at the loss of warmth. I didn't have long to dwell on that thought, for right at that moment the Country Man burst in.

"All right now, ya'll git inta the lobby," he said, waving a rifle at us. We got up and walked back through the door. The leader stood on the other side of the room. He took a glance out the window and then back to us. He looked at us. "The police are here, so I guess that means you all are very excited," his voice too on a very girlie pitch, "'Yay! We go home to our nonexistent lives. Yipee!' Well guess what, nobody's going anywhere. Now you," he said pointing at me, "go out there and get that phone, they're waving around. You better come back or the cop thats in here dies."

I looked at Ryan and he gave me a reassuring glance. I walked towards the door. Outside was like a circus. Police cars were everywhere. There was a S.W.A.T team, ambulance, and through the crowd I spotted my Uncle Horatio. I pushed open the door and was partially blinded by the sunlight. Suddenly I was grabbed under my arms by two men and hauled off my feet. Once I was behind the police line my Uncle Horatio made the men leave me alone.

"Anya, are you all right?" he said, inspecting my lip.

"I'm fine, really, but I need that phone. The said they'd kill Ryan." I said, trying to get him to understand.

"Ryan? My CSI." Wow. When he's angry, his eyes get really dark.

"Yes, so give me the phone."

"Anya, here's what we're going to do. I need you to get the leader, Mario Sanchez, close to the door. From there we're going to have a sniper target in on him. Do you think you can do that?" he said, looking at me sideways.

"Sure."

He gave me the phone and I made my way back towards the bank. Once I was at the door a hand grabbed me and roughly pulled me inside. He grabbed the phone out of my hands. He pressed the 'On' button and put it to his ear. After about five minutes of negotiations, which we couldn't hear, I finally had a plan. Slowly I began moving towards the door. When Sanchez finally noticed me he looked pissed. He began walking towards me with his gun outstretched.

"Move away from the door." As he spoke I notice the little red dot. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one.

"Heya boss! Thar's a red thingy on yer forehead!" the country man couldn't have kept quite. Suddenly I heard two shots ring out and I was thrown backwards, in incredible pain. My hands immediately went to my stomach and I felt something wet and sticky. I was going to die. After everything I went through. I survived Vegas and New York, only to die in Miami. My vision began to darken and I felt someone's hands behind my head. Who was it? My brain wasn't processing anything. Then my world went black.

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AN: Okay here's Chapter 2. And I know it sucks but reviews are nice. Thanks to JauntyChick, ComputerRejected, and MySweetTimeJommie. Your reviews mean the world to me.

Click George!!


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter 3

"Okay I need 30cc's of thallium right now!"

"We're losing her!"

"We need to get her to a hospital now!"

Even through all the noise, Ryan couldn't hear any of it. All he saw was Anya, getting loaded onto the gurney, covered in blood. She appeared to be unconscious, and that worried him even more. He ran towards Horatio, who was getting into his Hummer.

"Horatio! I'm coming with you!" All Horatio did was nod as he closed his door. Ryan climbed in and shut the door. Horatio took off at break neck speeds and all Ryan could do was hold on.

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It was extremely dark. Why was it so dark? Anya opened her eyes to see...nothing. She looked around and noticed that she didn't feel any pain. Not knowing what else to do, she closed her eyes. 'How did I get here?' she wondered.

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FLASHBACK

Anya sat on a hard, plastic chair inside the Las Vegas Crime Lab. She nervously glanced around, and noticed her friend Allie Moore walk past the door. Allie was a tall, slender woman with shoulderlength hair and deep, black eyes.

"Allie!" Anya said, maybe a little too loudly, because the woman jumped. Allie looked around and when she spotted Anya her jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"Hey, Anya! How are you? And what are you doing here?"

"I don't know. I was heading into the office and suddenly police cars came out of no where and they put me in the backseat. I didn't do anything Allie,I promise!" Anya was close to hysterics and Allie engulfed her in a brief hug for reassurance.

"It's alright, I believe you! Don't worry. I will be right back, just wait there..." Allie said, talking vigorously with her hands before she walked out of the room. Anya had meet the Allie when she had brought Rufus in to the vet's for a routine check up. She smiled at the memory.

"Anastasia?" Anya's head snapped up to see man with greying hair enter the room with some files in his hand.

"Call me Anya." she said, her voice low, "Why am I here?"

"Anya my name is Gil Grissom. We have reason to believe that a serial stalker has been following you." the said, laying pictures of her on the table. There were pictures of her walking to work, shopping, chatting on the phone, talking to Allie, even a picture of her at home wearing a tank top and sweats.

Anya's eyes flicked over each one, and her breathing became laboured. She looked up to Grissom, "Who took these?"

Grissom looked her in the eye, "We were hoping you could tell us. Do you know of anyone who would have a grudge against you?"

Anya thought back and only one person came to mind. "Well, I don't know if its relevant, but I was in an abusive relationship about 6 months ago. When I met Allie she kind of helped me to get out of it. He told me he'd never leave me alone."

"Thank you. Is there anyone you'd like to see?"

**END FLASHBACK (Anya's POV)**

'Oh no. I completely forgot to call Allie! She's gonna kill me!' That was the first thing I thought after my 'trip' back through time. Allie was my best friend back in Vegas. I hadn't talked to her for quite some time. What were we talking about on our last call? Oh yes, Greg. Greg was her boyfriend for two years. Right before I stepped onto my plane I had gotten a text message from her,

_'Anya! I have some uberhuge news!! Call me when you get a chance!  
Allie XO'_

Well now that was never going to happen. I would never get to see her again. I would never get to make fun of Dylan or yell at him for not taking better care of Rufus. My parents were dead, but what about Uncle Horatio? He's lost so much already! What about Ryan!

Whoa. What about Ryan. I just met him, what does he care about me? I mean, so what if he's got these amazing eyes, or nice muscular arms? So? All right, I'm attracted to him. All that proves is that I'm female. If I ever get out of this, I'm definitely calling Allie about this. She has an amazing boyfriend, so I tend to believe she's experienced in this area.

**(REGULAR POV)**

"Doctor, what is my niece's prognosis?" Horatio spoke quietly.

"Well, Anastasia has slipped into a comatose state, and we aren't exactlysure when she will wake up." the doctor said.

Horatio and Alexx sat inside a small green room. Anya was in a bed pushed up against the wall. The doctor stood next to the, waiting to clear Ryan again. He had gone for coffee about two minutes ago.

Alexx held Anya's hand and spoke softly, "Hey, baby. I know you don't remember me, but my name is Alexx Woods. You may not know it right now, but you're a very lucky girl. You need to wake up though so I can see those pretty eyes, I've heard so much about. You Uncle Horatio called your friend in LasVegas and she's very worried about you. We all are baby. So when you wake up, you owe us all a big hug."

Even though Anya didn't move, Alexx had a feeling that she heardher.

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AN:Woot! Another chapter down! Now I must say this for risk of being maimed. Allie Moore does not belong to me. She belongs to the amazing JauntyChick, who so graciously gave me permission to use her. So go read all her stories: Blossoms in the Dust, Flowers in the Rain, and Headstrong. Allie is in the first two.

Thanks to N1kki1984 and JauntyChick for the reviews!

George loves to have love!

JauntyChick's Note: Everyone reading this story absolutely, positively MUSTreview it, because a) Anastasia Wolfe rocks, and b) this story kicks MAJOR amounts of ! Ahem, anyway. Just press the review button! Oh, and thanks to Anastasia herself cause she used my character which is ubercool!


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter 4

"All right, Anya, baby. It's 10:00am. Time to wake up!" Even though Alexx's voice kept a cheery tone, she was starting to get frustrated. Five days. It had been five days since Anya had been shot. She had nothing better to do, so she thought back to the summer that Anya first came to Miami.

**FLASHBACK**

Alexx Woods could safely say that she was having a good day. She had dropped LeRoy off at Daycare, picked up the dry-cleaning, and stopped for a doughnut and coffee, all without being late to work. As she walked through the doors of the MDPD, she saw an unusual sight. Horatio Caine, a member of the bomb squad, was crouched down on one knee, tying a little girl's shoelace. As Alexx took in her black curls, the little girl looked over to her, laughed and waved. _'Anya.' _She thought. She had seen pictures of the green eyed cutie before.

Horatio stood and took Anya's hand, guiding her over to Alexx. He was about to say something when his beeper went off. He looked up at Alexx. "Could you-?"

Alexx cut him off with a wave of her hand. "You don't even need to ask." She observed Horatio lean down to explain things to Anya. The five year old nodded, and kissed him good-bye. Then she turned to Alexx.

"So what we gonna do today?" Anya asked.

Alexx smiled and held out her hand, which Anya immediately took. "Well, do you want to go for a walk?" Anya nodded vigorously, as she skipped beside Alexx. When Horatio found them, Anya had dubbed Alexx 'Aunt Alexx', and she didn't exactly want to leave.

**END FLASHBACK**

Alexx's smile faded as she felt a tear roll down her cheek. Now she was angry. "Anastasia Elaine Martin if you don't wake up within the next day, I'm gonna pop you one. You hear me?"

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Ryan stood inside Anya's doorway. Alexx had left about five minutes ago; to get coffee, she said. He slowly made his was over to her bed and gingerly sat down on the chair beside her bed. He took in her features for what must have been the umpteenth time. He couldn't understand why he felt like he could look at her all day long, and that still wouldn't be enough. He gently took her hand and rubbed his thumb over the top of it.

"Hey Anya." Ryan frowned at the way his voice went up when he said her name. He shook his head and continued. "I know we didn't get to talk much in the time since I've known you. I wish we could have because you seem like a very interesting person. I don't know when you'll be up to it, but after you wake up, I want to take you out for a coffee." He paused thinking of what to say. "Your friend in Las Vegas sounded really worried about you. She said she doesn't know whether to hug you or hit you. I think everyone feels the same." As Ryan rambled on, he didn't notice Anya's fingers start to twitch. What he did notice though was her EKG start to get faster.

He sat dumbstruck for a moment until Anya's arm jerked towards him. Panicking he reached over and pressed the 'NURSE' button about fifteen times. When the nurse came in, she quickly called a doctor and rushed Ryan out of the room.

As he stood in the hallway, Horatio came to a halt beside him. "What happened, Mr.Wolfe?"

Ryan didn't look away from the room as he answered Horatio, explaining the situation to him in fine detail. The doctor pulled Anya's curtain and the duo were forced to wait on the cold, hard, plastic seats in the waiting room. Pretty soon they were flanked by the entire team. Calleigh, Natalia, Valera and Alexx beside Ryan, and Eric on the other side of Horatio. The men sat in silence, while the girls talked quietly amongst themselves. Alexx was just beginning the to tell a funny story about a prank that Anya and her sister pulled on Horatio, when the doctor came out with a smile on his face.

"Who here is a direct relative to Miss Martin?" the doctor asked and they all stood. He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Okay, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, she should be awake by tomorrow. The bad news is, she's going to need to stay here for a while. At least until we're sure of her well being." The doctor smiled and then went on his way.

The group stood in shock for a few moments until a cheer rang out that could be heard from the nurse's station.

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All Anya knew was that she was sore. Not just your everyday, 'I just got done teaching Tae-Kwon-Do' sore but the kind where your limbs are numb and on fire at the same time. As she opened her eyes she was greeted by harsh sunlight coming through her window. She blinked and took in her surroundings; The bed she was laying in was pushed up against a pea-green wall, with all sorts of monitors and machines next to it, and, being the clever girl that she was, she deduced that she was in a hospital.

Then it hit her like a brick wall. _'I was shot. THAT CREEP SHOT ME!'_ She glanced over to the window, and her anger diminished. All along the windowsill were cards and flowers of every color. She was gazing at a large teddy bear when she heard a knock at the door. An African-American woman poked her head in, and Anya's eyes widened. "Alexx?!"

Alexx smiled and ushered everyone else into the room. Anya was shocked. Along with Alexx came Horatio, Ryan, and four other people she didn't know. After introductions, a trillion 'How are you feelings?' and a glass of water, only Alexx and Horatio were left in the room. Horatio smiled down at his niece and he laid a hand on her forehead. "Is there anything you need sweetheart?"

Anya thought for a moment, and a brilliant smile crossed her features. "Yes, I would like a cell phone please. I have some uber news to hear."

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AN: So Anya woke finnally woke up! WOOHOO! Now that shes awake, what will happen?

So on to a more serious note, are my chapters too short? It seems to mw that they are but I thought 'Perhaps I should ask.'

Thanks to ComputerRejected, legolasfreak2, and JauntyChick for the reveiws!!

George is sick. Press him to make him feel better.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Four

After Horatio and Alexx left, Anya stared disdainfully at the cell phone in her lap. Her thoughts were solely upon Allie and the possible anger that awaited her. She sighed and picked up the phone. While dialing the number she resisted the urge to hang up as it rang. After about three rings, Allie picked up.

"Yellow?" Was her happy greeting and Anya couldn't help but wonder how long that tone would last.

"Hey Allie!" Anya said, trying not to stutter.

"Anya! How are you?! Are you okay?!" After reassuring Allie that she was indeed okay, Anya let out a short laugh, thankful that she was out of the woods. "So, uh, what happened to calling me when you got off the plane?" Allie asked, teasingly.

"Allie!" Anya whined, "I said I was sorry! Next time I promise to call you before I get shot." Allie laughed and Anya knew that she was forgiven. Now that all of that was cleared up Anya got to the reason she was calling in the first place. "So what's the uber-exciting news?"

She heard Allie take a deep breath and then a quiet, "I'm married." She said it in almost a whisper, hoping that Anya wouldn't freak out too much.

Anya sat in stunned silence. Allie was _married_. _Allie_ was married. The only friend she had left had tied the knot with goof-ball Greg Sanders. Allie must have mistaken Anya's silence for disapproval. It didn't last long though as Anya screamed, deafening Allie. "Your MARRIED?! When did it happen? What did you wear? Where was the reception?" After answering the onslaught of questions, Anya asked the most important one, "Where are you having your honeymoon?"

Allie sighed, "Ah, we decided that we aren't going to have one. Too much hassle."

Anya rolled her eyes, "Well if you ever change your mind, my sister Isabella, has an amazing beach house here in Miami that you could use."

"I'll keep that in mind." Allie laughed, "So apart from getting shot, how was your first day in Miami?"

Anya laughed and told her about the snobby airline attendant, her luggage being in a different country and the bank robbery.

"Hey Al, you were temporarily transferred to MDPD right?" After Allie's 'mmhmm',she continued, "Did you meet a Ryan Wolfe?"

Right as Allie was about to answer, the phone beeped three times and then there was silence. She took the phone away from her ear and looked at the blank screen. She threw the phone onto the table beside her, grumbling about Horatio never charging his phone.

There was a knock on the door and Anya shouted to come in. The door opened to reveal Ryan carrying a tray with a covered plate and a glass of water. She smiled and sat up a little straighter.

"Hey," Ryan said, pulling up the bed tray with one hand and then setting the food down with the other, "I figured you might be hungry."

"Thank you so much. I'm famished." Anya smiled, removing the cover ot see that the plate held a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. She raised her eyebrows at him. "I thought they were serving barb-b-que?"

Ryan flushed and said, "Horatio told me that you were a veggie-head."

Anya smiled as she picked up the sandwich, "Thanks Ryan."

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For the next hour or so after she ate, Anya was poked, pinched and stuck in every place possible. The doctor had just left and she was laying back in her bed, one hand on her forehead. The door opened and Horatio stepped inside.

"Hey Anya. How are you feeling?" he asked, placing a hand on her hair.

Anya sent a glare at the door and sighed, "Well, if the doctors would stop prodding me, I'd be fine.

"They're only making sure your okay. And because of all that...'prodding', you can come home tomorrow."

"Uncle Horatio, if I wasn't so tired, I would kiss you!" Anya laughed.

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The next day Anya stood in front of the mirror taking in her disheveled appearance. Her hair hadn't been brushed or straightened in a week, so it was the shape and texture of a Brillo-pad. She was pale and had dark circles under her eyes. She frowned and finished getting dressed. Horatio had kindly gone and got her a pair of black sweat pants and a blue short-sleeved shirt. She ran her fingers through her hair in a last ditch attempt to make something out of it, but it was to no avail; it curled against her fingers and went back to the way it was. She slipped her shoes on and walked out of the bathroom, to be greeted by Horatio. He walked with her out to his Hummer and helped her climb in.

As they began to pull on the parkway, Anya looked at Horatio.

"Uncle Horatio, can I ask you something?"

"Of course Anya. You can ask anything you want." Horatio frowned at her.

"Well, where am I going to stay? I was going to get all that sorted out when I got here but this happened," She said, gesturing to her stomach. "And I don't want to impose on you, but I don't have any clothes or anything..."

"Anya, I need you to calm down. Here's what's going to happen. I've already got your room set up at my house. Your not imposing and I don't want you to ever think that. As for your clothes, Calleigh and Natalia have given you some to borrow until we get your things, and I've already called the movers about your furniture. As for Munch, no dogs in my house, even if they are miniature chiuawua. Izzy is holding on to her for a few more weeks."

Anya couldn't help but smile at Horatio's organization skills, something she seriously lacked.

About twenty minutes later they pulled into Horatio's driveway. It was a nice looking house with white vinyl siding and a front porch with chairs on each side.

They walked into the foyer and Anya thought it was amazing. There was a set of stairs right at the door, and if you went you went left, you'd be in Horatio's room. To the right was his office which also held a piano and lounge chairs. Straight back was the kitchen, complete with sliding glass doors that led to the pool in the backyard. To the left of the kitchen was a formal dining room, and to the right was the living room.

She heard a chuckle and she spun around. "What?'

"You did the same thing when you were five." Horatio began walking upstairs, with Anya following behind. "Now I have my own bathroom in my room, and over there," he said gesturing to a door at the far end of the hallway, "is the guest bathroom, but you don't have to use it."

Anya stared at him as he opened a door that led to a second set of iron wrought,curving stairs. _'The attic?' _she thought, _'Hes putting me in the attic?' _She walked up after him and when she reached the landing, she was met by an amazing sight.

It was her mom's room. Anya doubted that Amylia Caine-Martin had ever stepped foot in this room, but it was exactly how she described it.

The room was long, spanning at least half the house. I the far corner, next to a window, was and iron bed, with a paisley bed spread. There was a vanity table and three bookshelves placed strategically around the room. Next to the stairs was a bathroom and beside that was a closet the size of a large dressing room.

The walls held everything Anya could remember her mother having. Her mom's beanie baby collection was in a case protected by glass. There was medals and plaques from her Navy days and a map of everywhere she'd been. There were pictures and paintings and even one or two humorous things. Newspaper clippings of her, Uncle Horatio and Uncle Ray were framed and hung up. Even her old 13in TV sat on a stand in the corner.

"This was my mom's room, wasn't it?" Anya asked, afraid to touch anything.

"Yes sweetheart. I had it moved from your grandmother's house to here after your mom died. I knew eventually that you or Isabella would want to know more about her. This is set up the same way she had it when she was a teenager."

Anya turned to Horatio with tears in her eyes. She enveloped him in a hug and sobbed on his shoulder.  
"Thank you Uncle Horatio. For everything. Thank you."

A/N: Woo! Four chapters down blank left to go. Sorry it took me so long to update. I had some personal trouble and it resulted in me having to move, but I'm back now and I'm getting better.

6 days till Kel's birthday. You know what George wants to get her? A review!

JAUNTYCHICK'S NOTE: Dear, God, review this story, cause it rocks!! Not that I'm biased or anything, LOL.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter **6**

Anya sat on Hortatio's couch and sighed, heavily, for the fifth time that hour. The TV was off and Horatio wasn't home. She was so bored. After two weeks of being stuck in the house, she was going stir crazy. Deciding to go for a run, she headed up stairs for her running shorts. She changed into her high school and threw her hair up into a pony tail. She glanced around the room, glad that Horatio had used her powers of persuasion (or, more likely, his gun) to get her bags back. She headed back down stairs and pulled on her tennis shoes. She opened the door and almost lost her balance because standing on the other side was Ryan, hand raised mid-knock.

"Hey," He said, lowering his hand with a slight smile. "Did I, uh, catch you at a bad time?"

"Nah, I was just heading out for a run." Anya said.

"Well, Horatio sent me to pick you up so we can head over to the PD, but I figured we could stop for coffee first." Ryan asked, his ears turning a funky shade of light red.

"Okay, um...I'm going to go change then. Make yourself comfortable." she said, gesturing into the house, the running back upstairs. She re-entered her room and pulled out a pair of khaki slacks and a red tank top. After she changed, she pulled her hair out and ran a brush through it. She walked back down stairs to find Ryan sitting at the kitchen table, with his arms folded across his chest. "All right, I'm ready." Ryan looked up and smiled. He stood and they walked out to his Hummer. She climbed in and buckled up as he started the ignition.

The ride was quiet and Anya couldn't stand it. "So...how long have you lived in Miami?" She knew it was a cheesy question, but it was better than the silence.

Ryan cast her a sideways glance. "About three years. What about you? You said you moved from New York?"

"Well, I was born and raised in Las Vegas, but then something happened which made me move. So I packed up my things and moved in with my sister, whom you might know if you've ever seen a Broadway show, and her three year old son. Things got complicated there, so Uncle Horatio invited me down here, and I intend to say."

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" Ryan asked apprehensively.

Anya sighed. He was going to be working on her case anyway right? "Okay, your about to hear the history of my life. Are you sure you want to?" Ryan nodded as they pulled into the parking lot. They got out and, once they were inside, Anya found a nice secluded corner booth, while Ryan got their drinks. He came back and sat down, putting her Chai Tea Latte in front of her.

"Okay, so I guess the trouble started shortly after I turned two. My dad started drinking and turned abusive towards my mother. She did her best to hide it from me, but I wasn't stupid. I could see the bruises on her arms and legs. He didn't stop until I was four. My sister, Isabella was born and we all came her to Miami to see Uncle Horatio. We were here for about a week when I accidentally let it slip to Uncle Horatio that my dad had hit my mom. He was _furious_. He told me to stay inside while he went outside to cool off. My dad came home while Uncle Horatio was outside and I told him what happened." Anya stopped to let out a shaky breath and Ryan put his hands over hers, protectively. "Anyway, he hit me in the face, giving me a black eye and a broken tooth. He had raised his hand to hit me again, but Uncle Horatio was behind him with his gun drawn. I suppose he heard me scream. My dad was arrested and sent to jail for child abuse, while my mom, Izzy and I went back to Las Vegas."

Anya stopped again and bit her lip, not knowing if she could continue. Ryan gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and smiled to encourage her. She smiled back , feebly, and went on. "Things were fine until my 14th birthday. We were having a birthday party and I was extremely excited because Uncle Horatio was coming out. Izzy was 10 and everything was perfect. Then we got an unexpected visitor. He just knocked on the door like he was a neighbor. Izzy had answered it and because she didn't know who he was, she let him in." Anya closed her eyes as the memory took over.

FLASHBACK

Anya sat at the table with her mother and sister, eating lasagna and having a rare, 'family dinner'.

"So mommy, you are coming to my dance recital, right?" Isabella asked, her voice pleading. She was a natural beauty at 10, with her layered red hair, and piercing blue eyes. Freckles dotted her face and arms, and it was a joke amongst the three of them that Izzy looked more like Horatio than Amylia.

Amylia smiled at her youngest daughter. "Yes dear, Anya and I will both be there."

"Yeah runt, we wouldn't miss seeing you fall on you face." Anya joked. She virtually looked the same, except for her hair. It was short, the back of it starting at the nape of her neck, gradually getting longer on the sides till it reached just below her chin.

Izzy stuck out her tongue and shoved a heap of lasagna into her mouth.

Amylia opened her mouth to say something, when there was a knock on the door. Izzy jumped up and with a cry of 'I GOT IT!', she ran to the door. She opened it to see a man with shoulder length black hair that fell neatly into his face. His blue eyes were hard, but he was smiling.

"Hello there." He said in a deep voice.

"Hi, can I help you?" Izzy asked.

"Are you Isabella?" He asked. She nodded and he said, "Wow. You've gotten so much bigger than since the last time I saw you."

"Who are you?" Izzy asked, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Your mother and sister know who it is. Can you get one of them?" Izzy nodded at his words and ran back to the dining room.

"Who was it Isabella?" Amylia asked, glancing up from her plate.

"I don't know, he's still out there. He said that you and Anya know who he is." Izzy said repeating the man's words. Amylia's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then relization hit her hard. She glanced at Anya, whose eyes were wide.

They heard footsteps and looked towards the doorway of the kitchen, where the man stood. "Miss me?" he said in a deadly whisper.

Amylia pulled Izzy and Anya behind her. "What are you doing here Robert. You aren't allowed within a five mile radius of us."

The man, Robert, smiled innocently, which made him look even more sinister. "Amy, Amy, Amy. Isn't a man allowed to see his kids. My intentions are nothing but innocent. For the most part."

Anya was staring with disbelief at Robert. She grabbed Izzy's hand and slowly began pulling her in the direction of the back door. Robert saw this and pulled out a gun. "Anastasia, didn't you miss me? You seem so eager to get Isabella away." he paused and when Anya looked back at him definitely, his face darkened. "All right enough chit-chat, get into the living room, now!"

They did ask he instructed, and as soon as they were in there Robert started to rant. Anya took notice of his distraction and took Izzy with her behind the couch. She reached over to the fire place, and grabbed a fire stroker, holding it tightly in her right hand.  
"Anya, what are we going to do? I'm scared!" Izzy whisper urgently.

"I know Izzy, me too, but I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, okay? No matter what happens, stay with me, all right?" Anya said, and gave Izzy a weak smile as she nodded. They sat behind the couch listing as Robert yelled how it was Amylia and Anya's fault that he went to jail. Only then did he notice that Anya and Izzy weren't present.

"Get out here, Anastasia!" He yelled, spittle flying from his lips. Anya winced and stood, making sure the stroker was carefully concealed by the couch. Robert smirked at her. "Anastasia, it's time you learn your first lesson from 'daddy'." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "When you don't listen, or disobey me like your mother did, this is what happens." He raised his gun once again and fired seven shots at Amylia. She was dead before she hit the ground.

Izzy screamed, but Anya stood there in shock with wide eyes. She didn't understand how the world could still be moving. How the kids who were out side could still be laughing. Her shock changed rapidly though. She wasn't sad or scared. She was pissed. She looked at Robert, who had put his gun back in his pocket, and was laughing. Anya yelled and ran at him, the stroker held in front of her. She didn't think as she was running, nor as she heard and saw the metal hit his face fast and hard, knocking him to the ground. She heard Izzy whimper and she dropped the stroker, trying not to think about what she had done. She ran back over to Izzy, keeping her eyes carefully adverted from Amylia's body. She found Izzy with her head buried into the fabric of the couch.

"Izzy, come on. We're going to Lucille's." Anya said, knowing that their godmother would know what to do. "Let's go, and keep your eye's shut." She hoisted Izzy onto her back and walk out the back door. Once they were outside, they ran the two blocks to Lucille's house.They knock hard on the door until an exasperated Lucille opened it. Her eye's showed her shock but they softened as she took in their frantic appearance.

"What's the matter? What happened?" She asked slowly.

Anya glanced at Izzy before shouting, "He killed my mom!"

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**A/N: It's my birthday! Please review if you want to. Review if you want to! Yay! I am now officially 16! Woohoo! I cannot BEGIN to tell you how happy I am!**

Anyway moving on to things that matter, I'm a horrible person. No, I really mean it. I'm sitting here behind my computer, happy with my life, all the while putting Anya through hell. I don't know how she survived this long, with all I've put her threw so far, and this is only the 6th chapter.

I'm also uber-excited to announce that I have passed my SOL's and Gateway's. Not sure what that means? Well it means that I get to graduate my junior year! Yes!

It's review season! Click the button to win a prize!

JAUNTYCHICK'S NOTE: Great chapter, and it needs a LOT of reviews!!


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter 7

After what seemed like hours, Ryan finally spoke, in a slow, deep, claming voice. "Thank you for sharing that with me. Do you feel any better?"

Anya looked at him incredulously. "No, I don't feel better!" She snapped. She immediately felt sorry at the hurt look on Ryan's face. "I'm sorry. It's just...I haven't ever really told anyone that whole story, not even Uncle Horatio, and now...I feel like crying."

"Then why don't you?" He had absolutely no idea why he just said that. He hated crying women.

Anya sighed. "I can't cry because I'm the strong one. I've always had to make sure that my sister was okay. After mom died, I felt that I had to replace my mom as that rock. The same thing happened when Tristan was born." She choked, willing the tears back into her eyes. Ryan caught her chin in his fingers and raised her head to look at him.

"You don't always have to be strong." He whispered. Upon hearing those words, Anya let loose the tears. She cried deep, gut wrenching sobs into Ryan's chest. She cried for her mom, who had died prematurely, she cried for her sister, who was raising a three year old by herself and she cried for Horatio, who lost so much. But mostly, she cried for herself.

Ryan wrapped his arms around her shoulders, engulfing her. She wasn't tiny by any means, but she seemed so fragile right then. He held her and rocked her back and forth until her sobs subsided and her hiccups stopped. When she pulled away from him she was blushing slightly.

"Thank you again Ryan. All you ever seem to do is help me."

He laughed." Don't mention it. So, uh, why don't we get you back to the lab to see what H wanted?"

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Once again the car was filled with silence. Anya couldn't figure out if Ryan needed to concentrate or if he was just a quiet person. She looked out the window, mentally begging for him to start talking. After another five minutes of silence she turned to him. "Do you want to play twenty questions?"

Ryan glanced at her and shrugged. "Sure. You first."

"Okay, let me think. Hmm...Alright we'll start with an easy one. What's your favorite movie?

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Four minutes later found Anya laughing so hard that tears were rolling down her face. Ryan was scowling and glancing at her. "I don't see what's so funny."

Wiping away her tears Anya answered laughing, "You were scared by a guy who was pretending to be dead, you have to admit, it's pretty funny!"

Hearing her laugh like that made him laugh too. He couldn't help it. Her laugh was infectious.

"Alright," she said when her laughter died down. "Your turn."

Ryan thought for a minute before turning into the MDPD parking lot. "Can we call it an IOU?"

Anya smiled. "Sure thing, Wolfe."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Anya sat in Horatio's office, being bored out of her mind. She was twirling in her chair, making herself very dizzy. She heard someone clear their throat and she stopped abruptly. This turned out to be a mistake and she fell out of her chair. She was caught by a tall Cuban-esque looking man, whose name she couldn't recall. He laughed and stood her on her feet, steadying her before letting go.

"Thanks. Sorry, I don't remember your name." She said feeling embarrassed by the handsome man's stare.

"It's Eric Delko. What are you? Five?" He joked, breaking the ice. She laughed.

"I sometimes act like it." They got along with ease and her bored-ness soon crept away. After a while Eric left and Anya waited for Horatio once again. He finally showed up about two hours late.

"Hello, Anya. Sorry I'm late we, uh...had a situation."

She waved her hands at him, signaling that it was fine. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, first, I found you a place to stay. It's an apartment on Coconut Palm Dr. Two bedroom, One bath. It's on the forth floor. I know that Valera and Mr. Wolfe live over there."

Anya stared open-mouthed at him. He had already found her a place? She gave an almighty joyous shout and jumped at him, enveloping him in a tight hug. "Oh, thank you, Uncle Horatio Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!"

Horatio gave a short laugh and told her to calm down. He sat on the other side of the desk and stared at her intently, which made her squirm and feel like a five year old again.

"Now about your job..."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Yes."

"How would you like a change of pace?"

She looked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"You have a medical degree, correct?"

"Yes, in Internal Medicine, but I can't stand the patients attitudes and-"

Horatio cut her off. "How would you like to be the field medic of the Miami Dade Crime Lab?"

Anya blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Then she started talking really fast. "Are you serious? I don't think so. I mean I love Alexx and all, but do you really think this is right for me. It's not that I couldn't do it, it's just that I have so much to prepare for. I'll have to re-register and go back to school. Il y a tellement de faire! Ce qui je suffira avec mon autre formation. Est-ce que je suis allé à l'école pour rien? Queest-ce que je ferai à ce sujet? Je pense que j'ai pu-"

"Anya! Were...were you speaking french?" Horatio asked, exasperated at her over-reacting.

"Sorry...it's just a lot to think about. Are you sure you want me to be your field medic?"

"Yes, Anya, or I wouldn't have asked. You were very experienced, and you don't vomit at the sight of a dead body."

"Uncle Horatio I don't know what to say...except- wait! There was never a veterinarian job down here, was there?!" She exclaimed. She wasn't angry, just amused that Horatio lied.

"Well I never said there was. I told you that there was a job position open that would suit you. I never said anything about it being at an animal hospital. So what do you say?"

Anya looked at the ground. Could she make it? "Well, can I borrow some money for school?"

--  
A/N: Very sneaky Horatio! So I'm finally moved and I had time to update so I did. I just got done crying over the end of JauntyChick's 'Flowers in the Rain'. So if you like my story. Go read her's because she is where I get my inspiration.

PS. The French is " There is so much to do! What will I do with my other training. Did I go to school for nothing? What will I do about that? I think I could-"

R&R! I appreciate them all. They motivate me!

JAUNTYCHICK'S NOTE: Woo, I love this chapter...just make sure and review it! And Kel...you're way too nice!


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter 8

As it turned out, all Anya had to do was get her medical license renewed. Of course she had to take a few extra classes, but it was well worth it. Her first day arrived and it found her on her phone at 9AM calling Allie Sanders. It rang over and over until an obviously groggy Allie answered a brisk 'yellow' followed by a, "Do you have any idea what time it is, Anya?"

Anya smiled, "About six. I need advice and you need to wake up."

A groan, a soft, gentle muttering - obviously directed at Greg Sanders - and then, "...I hate you." Allie joked teasingly.

"Allie, I'm going to be a field medic. I know I'm certified and I'm capable but I'm still nervous. What should I do?"

Allie sighed in a 'you woke me up for this?' sort of way. "Annie," Anya smiled at the childish nickname, "everyone feels like that in a new work place. Even Wonder-Women chicks like you. Trust me, you've got nada to worry about. Maybe...except what you're going to wear..."

Anya looked down at her outfit. "I have a pair of gray slacks, a white shirt and a black jacket. Does that sound okay?"

Allie was silent for a moment and Anya started to worry. Then she heard a sniff. "My little Anya's all grown up! Picking out her own clothes and everything!"

Anya scowled and pouted out her lips.

"Ha, ha, okay. Go back to sleep, Grumpy." Anya mumbled.

Allie laughed, "Good luck, Anya. Don't break a shoelace."

"..."

"It's bad luck! Jeez, doesn't anybody get that? See you! And have fun!"

"Bye, Allie."

Anya hung up and put her cell phone in her purse. She stood up and walked downstairs and encountered her uncle in blue old-man pyjamas, eating cereal and reading the paper. She stared for a moment. Horatio realized he was under scrutiny and looked up from his newspaper. "Morning, Anya. Heading out already?"

She didn't say anything. She almost _couldn't _say anything. '_What the heck is he wearing? Is it even possible that Uncle Horatio can look this bad at home_?'

Horatio's eyebrows furrowed. "Is there a problem?"

Anya snapped out of it and shook her head really quickly. "No, nothing it's just...wow, Uncle Horatio, when was the last time you went pajama shopping?"

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It was noon and Alexx sat at her desk going over the last bits of paperwork on Geoffrey Hogart. 30 year old man shot twice in the chest, once in the head. No clues so far as to a suspect. The silence was broken by the morgue doors bursting open in a flurry of hair and clothes. She got up in alarm, thinking it was a thief. She sighed in relief when she saw it was just Anya.

"Baby, what are you doing?" She asked, and it amused her when Anya jumped.

Anya turned crimson. "Well, I didn't have to be here until noon, so I got Uncle Horatio new pajamas 'cause, believe you me, the ones that he had were just awful! Then when I looked at the time it was 11:45 and I was twenty minutes away. So, I ran instead of trying to find my car."

Alexx looked at Anya's feet and saw a pair of heels adorning them. "Baby, you ran in those?"

Anya looked down and laughed, "Oh, no! I took them off!"

"You ran from the strip mall to here without shoes on? Are you crazy?"

Anya blushed. "Sorry Alexx. So what's first?"

"Well, I don't really have anything for you to do. We're in a rut on the Hogart case. You want to take a look at it?" Alexx asked, head tilted to the side.

Anya stepped over to the body drawer and pulled out who she supposed was Hogart. His blonde hair was rumpled and if not for his blue lips and the bullet hole in his forehead, he could have passed for sleeping. Anya pulled the sheet down and a frown crossed her features. She pulled on her gloves and ran her fingers over the wounds.

"What is it Anya?"

She looked up. "Alexx, this is the military execution...two to the chest, and to make sure that the person is dead, one to the head."

Alexx went over to her desk and handed her a file. "Take this to Ryan and tell him what you just told me."

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Thirty minutes later Anya finally found Ryan in the ballistics lab with Calleigh. Ryan saw her and smirked. "What are you doing here?"

Anya looked at her nails. "You really don't know? I thought Horatio told you all."

Calleigh and Ryan looked at each other and Anya could feel her face heating up. "I'm, uh..I'm your new field medic." She said softly.

Calleigh smiled pulling her into a hug. "Congratulations. It's great to have another girl on the team! Well, unfortunately I can't celebrate tonight but we'll rain check, okay?"

Anya nodded and watched her walk out. She turned back to Ryan to tell him what she needed to, when she saw he was fidgeting. "Uh, Ryan, are you okay? You're making me really nervous."

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink tonight. You know," he added quickly, "to celebrate."

"Sure thing. Do you want to leave from work or do you want to pick me up? I left my car at the strip mall and I don't feel like searching for it. It's probably been stolen by now anyway."

"I'll pick you up. 8:00 sound good?"

"Sounds great." She smiled. Although she was perfectly calm on the outside, her teenage insides were having a mini panic attack.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Horatio was not happy. He came home to an empty house, which wasn't unusual. He went through his normal routine. Read the rest of the paper, watch the news, eat something, finish any paperwork, take a shower, go to bed. Everything was fine until he went looking for his pyjamas. He opened all of his drawers thinking maybe he misplaced them. He looked in the dirty clothes hamper, everywhere. All of his pyjamas were gone. He heard movement up stairs so he went to ask Anya if she had seen them.

He knocked on the door to the bottom of the attic steps and, when he heard a faint 'come in', he walked upstairs to find his niece in a denim skirt and a black tank top with little silver sequins around the neck line. She was looking at him through the mirror, while she put on some makeup. "Yes, Uncle Horatio?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm putting on make-up...?"

"No...why are you putting make-up on?"

"Oh! Because I'm going out." Anya said knowing that she was about to have it.

"With whom?"

"Ryan Wolfe"

"Where to?"

"Not sure."

"Why are you going out?"

Anya put on her lip gloss then turned to him. "Because he wanted to congratulate me on my new job, okay? Now, I kinda need to go." She began to walk away, but suddenly turned around. "Oh! In case your wondering, I got you some new jammies. They're in that bag over there. Love you. Bye!" She exclaimed, already rushing down the stairs. Horatio heard the door open and close. He sighed and grabbed the bag. He pulled out a black night shirt that blatantly said, '_Red hair and a red hot body_!"

Horatio stared at the shirt before looking back in the bag. What he saw made him blanch.

"I AM NOT BRINGING SEXY BACK!"

--

A/N: Okies readers! I decided since my it took me so long to get my last chapter out, that I'd be a super updater this time. Once again thanks to all my reveiwers, and escpesally JauntyChick who is not only my beta and fixes all my mistakes, but also lets me borrow the amazing Allie!

Georgie Pordgie pudding pie, kiss the girls and made them review! And if it would help he would kiss the boys!

**JauntyChick's Note: Wow, I love this chapter. She's good, isn't she, reviewers? Make sure and press George!! **


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter 9

Anya had figured out she'd better not be around when Horatio learned the full extent of his new nighttime wardrobe, so she was glad - and surprised - to see Ryan pulling into the drive. She smiled and waved as he got out.

"Hey," He greeted, while rubbing the back of his head. He had on a pair of dark jeans and a green shirt.

"Hi. Are we ready to go?" She asked, hoping they could leave before Horatio came back down the stairs. He nodded and, like the prefect gentleman she expected him to be, he helped her in before settling in himself.

As they pulled out of the drive, she willed the excited feelings inside of her to go away. She didn't want to look like an idiot on their first date. She frowned; technically they weren't on a date. All Ryan said was this was to celebrate her new job and really, given her history, did she really want a steady boyfriend? Yes, a small part of her admitted, but the bigger, more logical part, was unsure. This was a job for Izzy, who had guys bending over backwards to please her since the 9th grade.

They pulled into a bar called Spike's. Anya thought it was funny considering all the date rape drugs that were going around. She hopped out of the hummer and turned to Ryan. "Don't you think you should ditch MDPD's Hummer?"

He looked at her sheepishly. "Well, I went straight from work to H's house so I didn't have time to go home and get my bike."

Her eyes widened. "You have a motorcycle?! _That_ is so cool!" She loved motorcycles, but she had never been on one.

He smirked, "Do you want to take a ride sometime?"

"Really?!" She exclaimed. The next thing she knew she was hugging him, without even realizing she had moved. "Oh, yes! Thank you, Ryan! Thank you!"

He went red, but he hugged her back. "You're, uh...your welcome, I suppose." She let him go and the smile on her face matched his own. Suddenly, as if she realized how close she was to him, she jumped back.

"We should go in," She mumbled. He grinned and grabbed her hand, leading her into the bar. He snagged them a table and ordered their drinks. They sat and hours went by. They were visited by a couple of people who she knew from the lab, including Eric, who was with a bodacious blonde, and Dan Cooper, who was dancing with every female who happened to go by. Ryan was shook off when he suggested that Anya take it easy. They had sat at they're table talking and drinking when the song 'Paralyzed' came on. Anya in her slightly inebriated state, squealed and grabbed Ryan's hand. "I love this song!" she yelled over the noise, "Let's dance!" She dragged him onto the dance floor and twirled until she was facing him. As they began dancing, it was apparent that Isabella wasn't the only one in the family who inherited the dancing gene. He briefly wondered if she had taken lessons as her sister did. Eric and Dan jostled to partner her, spinning her off from one to the other and back to Ryan.

Even the band seemed to get a kick out of the crowd. Their lead singer screamed his way through the 'Twist and Shout', while the lead guitarist posed and strutted whenever Anya came near, breaking into moves that looked like something Jimi Hendrix or Elvis would do.

Ryan and Anya came back to their seats laughing and breathless. "Your a great dancer!" Anya slurred slightly. She was a little more than drunk and he knew that there was no way she was going back to Horatio's house now.

"You know, I wasn't really supposed to do this." She mumbled.

His eyebrows furrowed. "What? Why."

"I wasn't supposed to go out much. Not with that guy following me...Grissom and Allie, and even Allie's husband, told me to keep my head low and keep my nose clean. But they're no fun! You know I could tell you some really embarrassing-"

She didn't get to go on because at that moment she passed out. Ryan started panicking. Was this a side effect of her being shot? Ryan wasn't going to leave her but he stood up so he could look for Eric. He spotted him four tables away with the same blonde. "ERIC!" he bellowed above the noise. Eric's head shot up and when he saw the look on Ryan's face he came over.

"What is it, Wolfe?" He asked, talking no notice of Anya.

"I-it's Anya! She just passed out." Eric bent by her and then started laughing. Ryan was looking at him in disbelief. "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Wolfe. She's just drunk. Let me help you get her to the car." Ryan nodded and scooped Anya up in his arms. Her arms rested on her stomach and her head lolled onto his chest. After Eric explained quickly to his date (Yolanda, as it turned out her name was) what was going on, he helped Ryan out.

After placing her in the back seat Ryan thanked Eric and got in the front. He took a quick look in the rearview mirror and immediately regretted in. Anya, who was still out cold, was laid out on her back with one arm on her stomach, the other on her chest. Her head was slightly tilted, with her black hair framing her face. Her mouth was open a bit with her lips fully puckered. Ryan looked away and swallowed hard. He drove the short distance to his apartment, and when he opened the back door, he was surprised to see Anya sitting up in the seat, her green eyes dilated from her drinks.

"Where are we?" She asked, the slur still present in her voice.

He smiled. "We're at my place. Before you think the wrong thing, you passed out at Spike's and your too drunk for me to send back to Horatio."

She nodded absently and got out stumbling. Ryan caught her before she could do any real damage and helped her up to the fourth floor. He unlocked his door. "You can, uh, take my bed and I'll sleep on the couch." Anya looked about ready to fall asleep and Ryan experienced a burst of male pride as she leaned on him for support.

They hobbled their way into the bedroom and he set Anya on the bed as he bent to take off her shoes. When he came back up he found his face was inches from hers. She didn't seem bothered by this and leaned closer. Ryan shot up and her head ended up hitting his stomach. He pushed her back slightly and pulled down the covers. She automatically laid back and he pulled them up to her chest. He was about to turn when he felt her grab his wrist.

"Please don't leave me." She whispered, the slur absent. Her eyes were wide and the fear was rolling off of her in waves. He crouched down to her level and touched her cheek.

"Anya, what...what's wrong?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.

Quietly, almost to where it was inaudible, she said, "I'm afraid of the dark."

If it had been anyone else, Ryan would have laughed, but Anya was another story. She was truly scared and he couldn't leave her like that. He sighed know that he was going to regret his choice in the morning.

"I'll be right back," He said, and she nodded. He walked the short distance to the bathroom, and stripped his clothes. He pulled on his sweat pants that he wore to bed and put the dirty clothes in the hamper. After brushing his teeth, he walked back into the bedroom and climbed into the bed. He laid on his back and closed his eyes, determined not to think of the woman next to him. He was going pretty good, until he felt her roll over and place her head on his chest. He couldn't help the grin that came to his face. He wrapped an arm around her waist and drifted into a peaceful sleep.

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Anya awoke in what she considered the most comfortable bed that she'd ever been in. She smiled and went to stretch when she felt an arm around her waist. Her eyes snapped open and she looked beside her to see Ryan in a deep slumber. She gave a sigh of relief when she looked down and noticed the only thing missing from her was her shoes and her purse. She slowly unwrapped his arm and made to get up. He groaned and rolled over. She grinned and stepped out into the living room, glad that today was an 'on-call' day.

"Now where does Ryan keep his food?" she mumbled to herself. She made her way into the kitchen and opened his fridge. Grimacing at the sight of it being bare, she calculated how long it would take her to make it to the store and back. She sighed. Too long. The only option left was to wake Ryan. It was probably a good idea too, seeing as she'd never cooked before.

She walked quietly into his room and pushed open the door. He wasn't in his bed anymore, but she hadn't heard him get up. Thinking he had possibly gone into the bathroom, she softly called, "Ryan? Are you awake?"

When he didn't answer she frowned. Where the heck was he? She was about to call for him again when an arm wrapped around her middle and another went over her shoulder and across her chest. She bit back a scream and grabbed the arm. She got a good grip and pulled it and her assailant over her head and onto the floor.

"Whoa! Anya! It's me!" Her attacker yelled. She blinked as she removed her foot from Ryan's neck. She grabbed his hand and helped him up.

"What the Hell was that all about?" He asked, more than a smidge shocked.

"Sorry! You scared me and I kinda went into attack mode."

"Tell me about it. Remind me to never get on your bad side." He laughed walking into the kitchen.

He opened his fridge and took out a carton of eggs, some bacon, ham, cheese and tomatos. "How do you like your omeletes? I know your a vegetarian, so just cheese?"

She nodded, dumbfounded. He turned his back to her and she walked over to his book shelf seeing as she had nothing better to do.

Fifteen minutes later, Ryan had finished cooking. She came in and her eyes sparkled with delight. They sat down and began eating in comfortable silence. Ryan soon learned that Anya could eat enough for three people. When they were finished Ryan turned to her.

"So what are your plans for the day?"

"Well, I was probably going to begin moving in to my new place."

He looked surprised. "Where is it?"

"Uh...427 Coconut Palm Dr." She said looking up.

Ryan's eyebrows shot up. "That's right across the hall."

"Really?! That's amazing! I mean," she added, "I have movers coming with my furniture, but, uh, could you maybe help me?"

He smirked. "What's in it for me?" He flirted.

Anya looked upwards very innocently, "Well, I could try to make you dinner..."

He held out his hand. "It's a deal."

She looked at his hand and then back at him. "What? No spit shake?"

He pulled back his hand so fast it made her head whirl. "I was kidding!" she exclaimed, "I didn't really want you to spit shake! You just reminded me of a boy scout."

He turned red and looked down. "I have a slight case of OCD." he mumbled.

She cocked her head to the side. "Really? So does my friend Geoffrey, but we all love him."

Ryan smiled as she gave him a very quick, very soft hug and bounded towards his bedroom. She came back out with her shoes and smiled. "I'm going to call the moving van and see where they are, okay?"

He nodded and pointed to his phone. After she called them she went back to where he was sitting on the couch. "They said they were about three minutes away. So I'm going to meet them downstairs. You wanna come?"

"Sure thing. Are we moving this by ourselves?"

"Are you nuts? We can't move all my furniture by ourselves. Horatio is sending Eric I think. So come on!"

She grabbed his hand and led him out the door and down stairs. Never had he met such a free-spirited, energetic female. They had just reached the landing when the Mighty Movers van pulled in followed by a silver Dodge Stratus. Anya's eyes widened and she let go of Ryan's hand, running the rest of the way down. From the silver car emerged a woman with red hair that fell in waves. Anya reached the car and the woman screamed in delight as she nearly jumped on her.

"Anya!" the woman yelled as they hugged each other.

"Oh, Izzy! I've missed you!"

The woman, Izzy apparently, held Anya away from her. "You retard. You've only been gone two and a half months!"

She heard a muffled cry and looked towards the car.

"Oh, Tristan!" Anya exclaimed as she reached into the backseat and pulled out a little boy with black hair and big, bright blue eyes. "And how are you, young man?"

"Aunt Ana!" the boy said, mispronouncing Anya's name. But he was a kid, so she didn't mind.

"Yes, love?"

"I can count to ten! In 'panish!"

"You can?! That's so good!" She exclaimed, hugging him tightly. She looked back to Ryan and smiled, motioning with her head for him to come over. He took tentive steps toward the trio and he saw Izzy do a double take. He smiled as he came to stand beside Anya.

"Hello."

"H-hi!" Izzy said.

"Izzy, I'd like you to meet my very good friend, Ryan Wolfe. Ryan, I'd like you to meet my younger sister, Isabella Martin-Caine." When Ryan looked at her quizzically she added, "Oh, she changed her name to Caine when she turned thirteen."

"Ryan Woof!" Tristan said, holding his arms out for Ryan to grab him. "I wanna go wif him Aunt Ana!"

"You'd better ask Mommy." Anya said in a stern tone. The little boy had the grace to look sheepish before he turned to his mom.

"Pwease Mommy. Aunt Ana knows him, so he's not a bad guy. I'll be good. Pinkie swear!" he said in an almost desperate tone.

Izzy looked to Anya for reassurance. "Okay, I suppose. But make sure you stick with that being good plan."

"Yay!"

Ryan took Tristan in his arms and bounced him a couple of times. The boy's giggles made him laugh. He felt that eyes were on him and he looked up in time to see Anya quickly look away.

(Anya's POV but still in third person)

Anya watched in wonder as Tristan willingly went into Ryan's arms. She looked up into Ryan's face and could help but think, 'he's going to be an awesome dad.'

She immediately blushed at the image that came into her head of her and Ryan in a back yard with little black and brown haired kids running around.

"Something wrong, Anastasia?" Izzy's voice whispered in her ear.

"No. Why?"

Izzy smiled a wicked grin. "Ryan, can you watch Tristan for a minute? I need to speak to dear Anastasia in private."

After Ryan's nod, Anya let Izzy drag her toward the apartments. "What is it Isabella?" She snapped out, getting annoyed at her younger sister's pushy attitude.

"I'll be blunt. What is your relationship with Ryan Wolfe?"

Anya was taken aback. "W-what?!"

"Are you screwing him?"

"Isabella! No! We only went out for drinks and I got drunk but nothing happened!"

"I worry about you. You're still too young for kids-"

"Oh! So says the girl who lost her virginity at 14!"

"You know that was an accident. I was drunk at the 'West Side Story' after party."

Anya's eyes softened at Izzy's hurt tone. "Izzy, I'm sorry. I know that the ass spiked your drink."

They hugged and made their way over to Ryan who was tossing an excited Tristan into the air. "Okay, buddy," Izzy said as she took Tristan from Ryan. Let's go get you settled into our hotel. Oh, and Anya?"

"Yes?"

"I paid the movers extra, so they'll be moving your furniture for you and go grab your mongrel from my backseat!"

Anya gasped. "Munch is not a mongrel! He is a purebred mini Chihuahua."

"Whatever. By the way," she added, "Your Guiana Pig is at Uncle Horatio's house."

"Grampaw?" Tristan said.

"Yes, baby, Grandpa." Izzy said as she put Tristan in his baby seat. She kissed his forehead and closed the door.

"Love ya, sis. See you later." Anya and Izzy hugged and Anya waved as Izzy drove away. She turned back to Ryan.

"You seemed to have fun with Tristan."

"Yeah, he was okay. He's a cute kid, but he looks more like you than Izzy."

Anya looked pained for a moment but as soon as it came it passed. "Yeah, I guess he takes after my dad." She sighed, "Well I guess I need to get home."

Ryan looked down at her."You, could stay at my place. I mean, it's closer to your apartment."

Anya thought for a moment but there was no denying his logic. "Okay."

A/N: My longest chapter yet! Woo! And I'm uber excited to say that my mind has been going haywire with all the stories I want to write! My goal is to at least start some of my OC Chronicles. What's going to happen is that every make in the CSI universe (save NY) will be paired with an OC.

Ryan, Eric, Horatio, Greg, Nick, and Grissom.

I'm daft but, I enjoy my illusions of adequacy. Love ya'll!

XOXOX Kel


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter 10

Moving in was a lot harder than it looked, Anya noted. She, Ryan, Izzy, _and_ the movers had spent about five hours just getting the things to her apartment. By the time all of her stuff was upstairs, everyone was far too tired to put things in their proper place, so they agreed to meet back at the apartment at 9:00am, while Izzy went to Horatio's and Anya stayed with Ryan.

Ryan had left Anya alone for a while, saying he was going to work on his bike. For a while, she had sat thinking of how she could repay him. Which is what found her in the kitchen an hour later making soup from scratch. She found vegetables in the freezer, bread in the pantry and an amazing wine collection.

She began cooking, mixing, wiping up spills, and making sure the stove didn't get too hot. She had never really cooked before because when she was younger, her mom or Lucille had always cooked for her and college was filled with Chinese take-outs and cafeteria food.

At last she pronounced the soup finished. She set aside several pieces of bread to be toasted and laid out as trenchers. She moved away from the stove towards Ryan's guest bedroom, so she could change into clean clothes. As she washed her face in the bathroom, she began to hum, thinking of the look on Ryan's face when he walked into the room to find a small feast.

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Smoke was the first thing Ryan smelled as he approached the apartment. He tossed the oily rag aside and ran the last few feet to the door.

"Anya!" he yelled, bounding into the kitchen where puffs of smoke were issuing from the stove. "_Anya_!"

He barreled into the narrow hallway and yanked open the bedroom door. Anya turned to him with a smile, a hairbrush in her hand.

"Hey, Ryan." she said, breezily.

He stopped frozen for a moment at the sight of her. She appeared to be wearing only yards of shiny ebony hair. She moved a little and Ryan caught a glimpse of lace, and he realized that she was, at least, wearing underwear and a bra. "Fire," he managed to blurt out.

She gasped. "In the house?! Oh, no! We have to call the fire department!"

She vaulted towards the door, but he caught her by the shoulders. "Wait," he commanded. "Stay where you are. Keep the door closed until you hear me call. If I tell you to get out of the apartment, use the fire escape, you understand?"

She nodded and he spun away, slamming the door on an image that, at any other time, would have made it impossible for him to do so. But the smell of smoke and heat in the small apartment reminded him of the danger and he sped back to the kitchen.

In the sink appeared to be every pot and pan he owned, along with dishes, bowls, spoons, forks and knives, along with, a hammer and tongs. On the stove itself, an old stainless steal pot glowed from the heat around it. The oven contained a cookie sheet covered in charcoal. The smell, he thought, was a disturbing blend of pork rinds, stale beer, and burnt toast. And maybe cheese. "What the-"

"Is the apartment on fire?" Anya's voice drifted from the hall. "Please, Ryan. Let me help! I've dealt with fires before!"

"I believe it," he muttered.

"What?"

"Yeah, come on out," he yelled. As he said it, he realized the she might be wearing the same thing as before. He felt a quick struggle in himself between panic and desire. Desire won the contest; TKO the first round.

He heard her footsteps behind him. "Oh no!" she wailed. She dropped to her knees in front of the stove and reached for the smoking cookie sheet.

"No!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Are you crazy?!" he demanded. "You almost set fire to the apartment with this stuff, you want to burn yourself too?"

She looked at him, and to his surprise, her usual cool and composed features faltered, and tears began to fill her eyes.

Without thinking, he pulled her to him. "No, don't," he murmured. "It's all right."

"It isn't." She shook her head against his chest. "I've been nothing but a burden to you since we met. It would have been better if I had left you alone."

He felt the little sob she tried to suppress and his heart contracted even as his mind told him to be wary. Anya, Horatio's niece, who had stared down ER nurses and commanded doctors to mind their manners, was shaking in his arms.

A wave of tenderness washed over him. After everything she had gone through now, of all things, cooking dinner had brought her low and into his arms. He smiled as he pulled her back to look into her eyes.

"How about we get some chowder?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The wind off the water was refreshing, Anya admitted.

They were standing at the end of a long pier that jutted out into the ocean. Anya spooned another bite of the thick, creamy stew from her paper cup, appreciating it's warmth and flavor as the breeze slapped her face and hands. She enjoyed the noise and bustle of the harbour, with all of the machines and seagulls.

She was trying to take in everything at once. She glanced at Ryan who looked away from her. She wondered if he was still mad at her. He didn't appear to be after what happened. And he had held her close.

She pushed that memory aside, hard. She couldn't afford to be lusting after Ryan, not now. It just wasn't the right time.

"Is your chowder okay?" Ryan's deep, soft voice jolted her back into reality.

She jumped, then gave him a smile and lifted her cup. "Delicious."

"Best there is." He moved, so he was facing her. "So how do you like Miami?"

"Do you really need to ask?" She threw out her arms, the breeze whipping at her hair and clothes. "It's the most astonishing place I've ever been!"

He put down his cup, grabbed her waist and pulled her to him. Twirling her around, he began to dance her down the pier. She laughed and screamed, scared that they were going to collide into the other people on the pier. He laughed with her, gazing down at her eyes with an expression of sheer delight.

He stopped and pulled her closer. She put her hand on his arm to get steady.

"Anya," he said softly.

"What?"

"Just this."

He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. Her eyes widened before she gave into it. She raised her hand and slipped it up to the nape of his neck. With a sharp in take of breath, he pulled her even closer, deepening the kiss. And she'd thought her mom's room was paradise.

--

A/N: I am SO sorry about the uber long update. I've been busy with driver's ed, but now that I'm done, I can try to update once a week. I promise the next chapter will be externally long.

JauntyChick's Note: WOW! Review!! Immediately!! As Anastasia's BETA, I have a definite right to demand reviews for her, LOL!!

PS: I found an AMAZING video on Youtube about Ryan Wolfe. youtube. com/ watch?vHtB1pyCajyQ


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11

"You're smiling."

Anya looked up from the body of a 20 year old man at a disbelieving Alexx, who, at that moment, looked as though she'd just been smacked. Perhaps by a cold, wet fish. "You were ten minutes late for the first time since you began, you made at least three wrong incisions that even a beginner in college wouldn't have made, you dropped your scalpel, and you're smiling?"

Anya shrugged, the smile not leaving her face. "Everyone has an off day, Alexx," She said, and far too happily for Alexx's taste. Anya had tried her hardest to concentrate during the autopsy, really she had, but the harder she tried, the more the kiss she and Ryan shared appeared in her head. As for the smile, she hadn't even realized she'd been doing it. It seemed that was just her natural reaction to her thoughts about Ryan. She didn't think she'd be able to get rid of it if she tried.

Alexx scoffed and was about to berate Anya for her horrible performance when a sudden thought struck her, causing her to beam knowingly. "It's Mr. Wolfe, isn't it? You've liked him ever since the first time you stayed with him! Oh, why didn't I see it before?" she laughed, shaking her head at herself.

Anya's smile disappeared, and she looked at Alexx, dumbstruck. "H-how did you know?!"

"Well, come on, Anya. Only a man would put a smile like that on a girl's face." she said with a sly wink.

Anya's face turned beet red. "I didn't mean that! I meant how did you know I stayed at Ryan's?"

"Oh, Ryan, is it? You two are good friends already, I see," Alexx nodded, grinning from ear to ear.

"Alexx," Anya said, warningly.

This brought out a laugh from the older woman who held up her hands in mock defence. "All right, all right. Horatio told me all about it yesterday."

"Oh, yeah," Anya said with a frown. "I guess he did." She chided herself inwardly for forgetting that. Of course Horatio would inform the Alexx about Anya's mistake. She was like a mother to the girl, after all. It hadn't even crossed her mind to tell Alexx about it, and she realized suddenly that she might be a little hurt that she hadn't.

"Alexx, I meant to tell you, really. I wanted to, it's just, I didn't mean to get drunk, and I thought perhaps it was best if you didn't know where I stayed. I didn't want to worry you over nothing…" she said quickly, feeling awful for not opening up to Alexx about the Ryan and her 'date'.

Alexx held up a hand in a placating manner and gave a small smile. "Baby, it's alright. You did the right thing. If you had told me yesterday, I probably would have barged into that evidence like a madman and scared the poor boy to death in questioning him before getting the real story. I understand. Actually, your atrocious performance today made me forget all about it, to tell you the truth," she said, grinning good-naturally.

Anya blushed, running a hand through her long, lustrous hair. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Yes, well, I suppose I can allow it this one time, but in the future, you must _not _allow yourself to be distracted." Anya nodded, knowing she was right and feeling a bit foolish because of it. Alexx smiled again as she went back to work. "So…what's he like?" She asked innocently, enough.

Anya stared at her suspiciously for a moment before answering. "He's…nice," she said vaguely.

"Nice?" Alexx asked, eyebrows raised, waiting for her to say more. When Anya simply looked at her, she gestured with her gloved hands for her to go on. "And…?"

"And what?" Anya said, looking anywhere but at her mentor, trying to seem disinterested.

Alexx sighed impatiently. "That's it? Well I knew that much."

Anya fidgeted, feeling uncomfortable. "He's…he's great," she said finally, a small smile on her face. "He's funny, and smart, and brave, and…and great," she shrugged, eyes glued to her feet, feeling her cheeks start to burn.

"Great, huh?" Alexx grinned with a glint of mischief in her eye.

Anya saw this and scowled at Alexx, wishing she'd kept her mouth shut. "Shut up," she mumbled, even more embarrassed.

Alexx laughed loudly. "Forgive me, Anya. I'm sure he's lovely. Now, get going. I'm sure your man is waiting for you so you can eat lunch," she said, pushing Anya towards the door.

Anya's scowl deepened as she sent her grinning mentor a glare, still walking determinedly out the door. "I'm not listening," she said over her shoulder to the increasingly amused Alexx.

Anya began walking down the hall towards the elevator, trying to put as much distance between her and Alexx as possible."Oh Anya!" Alexx shouted from the doorway at Anya's retreating back, unable to resist taunting her a little more. "Give him a kiss for me, would you?" she joked, laughing even more when Anya stopped dead for a split second before continuing on even more quickly.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Anya yelled, putting her hands over both ears, desperately trying to drown out Alexx's laughter.

"Oh come on, baby! I was only joking!" she yelled, still trying to stop laughing. But Anya had entered the elevator, hands still over her ears.

Alexx chuckled again, wiping some tears of laughter from her eyes. "Kids," she said, shaking her head, laughing all over again when she pictured Anya's scowling face.

She couldn't help but feel proud of Anya. It was written all over the girl's face, even though she probably didn't know it.

The girl was quite taken with Ryan Wolfe.

'It's about time,' Alexx thought with a happy smile before pulling out the body's liver.

_It's about time…_

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Anya quickly found Ryan in the DNA lab. She knocked on the door frame and smiled when he looked up. "Hey," he said. "Ready for lunch?"

Anya grinned. "I'm staving!"

"I got the perfect place." He said, pulling off his lab coat.

Twenty minutes later found them walking down the beach with an ice cream cone in Anya's hand. She was laughing at a story that Ryan was telling about his best friend from his childhood. "Don't look so surprised. I did have a childhood, you know." Ryan said.

It was Anya's turn to grin. "Yes, I suppose you did. And the pair of you were the terror of your mothers's lives."

"Like you?" he said, as the stopped walking.

"Me?" she asked innocently.

He stepped closer. "Try to deny it," he said as he reached out and ran his finger down the length of the braid that hung over her shoulder. "I can just see you, a kid in black pigtails, driving your mom crazy by falling into mud holes and cooking up weird stuff."

She shook her head, smiling. "Not me."

"Yes, _you. _I bet you coloured on the walls."

"_I_ was a model child."

"_You _were a brat." His fingertips came to rest on her hip, and did a little dance there.

"I was a picture of sweetness."

"_You_ swung from the ceiling fan,"

"_I_ was sat quietly and coloured."

"You lie."

"I lie."

His eyes were smiling along with his lips as he moved a little closer. Closer, closer, closer-

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

Ryan groaned and let go of her. He looked at his beeper and the look on his face betrayed his thoughts. I wonder if anyone would notice if I threw it into the ocean?

"What is it?" Anya asked.

"We got a DB on the Ocean Overlook. Let's go. Your kit is in my car right?"

"Yes," she said as they made their way up the beach.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"So this is one of Miami's cliffs and ocean overlooks, huh?" Anya asked as she followed Ryan. After arriving and assessing the body, Horatio told her to help Ryan if she wanted to. They were heading toward the edge of the cliff.

"Yeah. Apparently, the vic's clothes were found twenty feet away." Ryan said, pointing to darker lumps on the ground. They walked towards the clothes and Anya put them in an evidence bag as Ryan stepped away to check a stain on a palm tree. She felt someone behind her, so she stood up and turned around.

"Hey Ry-" Anya started but was stopped short by the gun that was pointed at her face. She slowly raised her hands.

"Give me the bag." the man said in a gruff voice. Anya held on tighter.

"No," she began firmly, "this is evidence. I can't-"

"Give me the damn bag!" the man shouted, drawing attention to them.

Ryan, Horatio, Calleigh and Eric all had their guns drawn and aimed at the man. Horatio was the first to speak, and Ryan looked ready to kill."Sir, put down the gun and put your hands up."

"No way, man. And before you shoot me, I think you should know that this is a hairline trigger. I get shot, she gets shot." the man said, never taking his eyes off Anya.

To say that Anya was afraid was an understatement. She was shaking where she stood, but she refused to give over the evidence. _'What is it with people wanting to shoot me?!_' she thought. _'Do I have a "Shoot Me" sign on my back?_'

As the tension grew, the man again harshly asked for the clothes. How many times had he asked? She wasn't sure, but his persistent asking was annoying her."I am _NEVER _giving you these clothes, you idiot!" she yelled.

He took a step toward her and she involuntarily took a step back. Her right foot hit a small patch of loose rock, and she plunged downward. There was a moment of breathlessness as she fell, a moment of time where everything stopped: her heart, all sound, and any ability to move. When her elbow brushed against the side of the rock, Anya reached out with both hands to grasp the edge. The evidence bag slid down her arm and came to a rest at her shoulder. Her arms weren't strong enough to support her for very long, but she found a toehold for her left foot and held on as best as she could. She heard yelling, a couple of shots, and more yelling. She also heard her own heart beat, could hear the rush of the blood in her veins. Her elbow throbbed, but there was no way to see how bad it was at the moment.

She glanced down and what she saw made her look right back up. About fifty feet below her was the ocean, full of sharp rocks. She was really wishing she knew how to swim.She looked up and Ryan was there, his face thrust over the edge, his hands gripping her wrist. "Are you all right?" he asked quickly. Anya stared at his face, which was strangely pale and free of anger. In fact, he looked afraid, as if it was him that had fallen. "Jesus, will you answer me, Anya?!" he demanded even though he could see she wasn't hurt.

"Given the circumstances, I'm fine," she said, her voice sounding much calmer than she actually felt.

His grip at her wrist was too tight, but she wasn't about to ask him to loosen it. He didn't release her, but he did slide one hand down to almost her elbow. "Let go of the rock and grab my wrist." he instructed, nodding to her left hand. She looked up at him, her black hair blowing in her face. It took her a minute to work up the courage to let go, but Ryan was patient, merely nodding his head when she flexed her fingers. "It's all right," he said, his voice deep and peaceful, "I won't let you fall."

She knew that. When she looked into his amazing hazel eyes, she couldn't doubt Ryan's ability to hoist her from this situation. Quickly she let go of the rock and grabbed Ryan's wrist, wrapping her fingers tightly around the hard muscle. He nodded to her other hand, and she release her hold on it too. He effortlessly pulled her up, taking care not to bash her up too badly against the side of the cliff. He didn't say a word until she was on her feet, and he had moved her away from the ledge. When he did speak his words were even and emotionless, but he gripped her wrists tightly. "Don't you ever do that again."

"Do what?" she asked, her green, bright eyes showing her extreme confusion and discombobulation.He looked at her like she was insane, and the colour came back into his face, but he didn't remove his grip from her wrist. He looked as of he was about to answer, but instead let her go. "Are you hurt?" he asked, concern in his voice, and Anya rubbed her elbow. He took her arm, as if it would break, and examined it. It was red and Ryan moved her arm this way and that before he declared that she would have a nasty bruise, but it wasn't serious. Oddly enough, that seemed to make him angry again. "What were you thinking?!" he shouted. Anya started to back away, but he reached out and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stay in place. That move had gotten her in this mess.

"He asked for the evidence, and I told him 'no'." she said, as if it meant nothing.

"Next time," he began angrily, and the he calmed himself. "Next time, weather it's evidence or not, give him the bag." He took her arm and assisted her up the slope. "H is going to want to talk to you." At the top of the slope he released her, and Anya quickly pulled him into a hug. He was stiff for a moment, then he hugged her back. When she pulled away, he was smiling. "What was that for?" he asked.

"A thank you for saving me. I can't swim."


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter 12

"You know, Ryan, you really didn't have to help us unpack," Anya said as she opened yet another box. For the last three hours, she, Ryan, and Izzy had been unpacking her stuff and making sure Tristan didn't get into anything harmful.

Ryan glanced at her. "What would you have me do then? I'll do anything you want."

"Anything..." Anya began with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Anything."

"Well, would you mind terribly taking Tristan to your place for an hour or so? He's going to end up getting hurt or breaking something. I wouldn't ask, normally, but-"

Ryan cut her off. "It's no problem, Anya. I'll take him and then we can switch." He set down the box he had picked up and walked to the door-way. "Hey, Tristan! Come on, buddy, let's go watch 'Elmo's World'."

Tristan came bouncing into the room with a frown on his face. "No, Woof. We haveta watch Scooby-Doo! Scooby-Doo comes on today at 5:00."

Ryan looked at Anya with confusion. "Woof?"

She giggled. "He likes your last name, because we taught him that a wolf is a big doggie. He wants to say Wolfe, but he mispronounces it, like when he calls me 'Aunt Ana'. Right baby?"

Tristan shook his head so fast that when he stopped, he swayed for a moment. Ryan reached over and picked him up. Tristan yawned, put his head on Ryan shoulder, and stuck his thumb into his mouth.

Ryan chuckled. "Looks like somebody's ready for a nap."

He walked across the hall and opened his front door. He looked around and was momentarily worried about Tristan messing something up, but shook the thoughts out of his head. He laid Tristan on his bed and went to his laptop.

An hour or so later he heard a gentle thump. Worried, he quickly went into his room to find Tristan on the floor looking ready to cry. He picked him up want rubbed his back, hoping that it would stop him from crying. "Hey...what happened, kiddo?"

Tristan's bottom lip quivered as he answered. "I was tryin' to get off of ta bed, but it was too high, and I falled off!"

"Are you okay?"

"I gots a boo-boo here," he said pointing to his hand, "and here," he pointed to his head, "and here!" he pointed to his side. Ryan closely inspected the place for even the smallest of a scratch. God forbid Izzy found out, or worse, Anya.

"They seem to be okay," he announced, nonchalantly.

Tristan scowled. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Ryan asked, bemused.

Tristan heaved the world's largest sigh. "Don't you know anything? You gots to kiss it to make it stop hurting! You're not very good at this, Woof."

Ryan blanched. There was no way, _no way_, that he was kissing this boy. He was small and dirty and who knew what germs he could have on him. He looked at Tristan's scowling face for a minute before sighing. There was no other way out. He took the boys hand and quickly kissed it, then moved to his head and side. Tristan began giggling, and the boy's laughter brought a smile to his face. 'Just like Anya's laugh.'

"Woof? What's for lunch?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Anya let out a giant breath as she heaved a box up. She straightened up and wiped her fringe out of her face. "Izzy!"

Izzy peeked around the corner, her red curls tied back by a bandana. "Yes?"

"I'm hungry. You want to go and get Ryan, so we can go to the lab and give Uncle Horatio some lunch?" As she finished saying that, a little force ran into her legs, knocking her backwards. She let out a small scream as her arms flailed for a moment. She closed her eyes, bracing for impact when she felt a pair of arms around her. She cracked one eye open and saw a brilliant pair of honey eyes. Ryan laughed and set her straight.

"You're a klutz aren't you?"

She blushed. "Yeah. We we're actually about to come get you some we can get a bite to eat. I'm famished."

"You know, you and Tristan have a lot in common. He was hungry too." Ryan said, gesturing to the little boy, who was currently trying to get to a box that was precariously on the top of a pile. Izzy noticed and tried to grab it, but it toppled over and landed on the boy. He immediately began crying, but instead of going to his mom, he walked over to Ryan. Ryan looked shocked, as did Anya and Izzy. Ryan picked Tristan up and felt the top of his head. "You're going to have a bump there, kiddo." He kissed it quickly and looked up to see Anya giving him the most amazing look he ever saw on her face. It was soft and sweet, and he felt like he wanted to kiss her. He shook his head. He really needed to think about this.

Izzy looked between the two of them and then clapped her hands. "Let's go get some grub!"

They made their way downstairs and Ryan and Izzy had a small debate on which car to take. Ryan eventually won, so they got Tristan's car seat from Izzy's car and they loaded up into the Hummer, with Izzy and Tristan in the backseat, and Ryan and Anya up front. Traffic was packed and Ryan and Izzy quickly got into a debate about sports.

"I'm telling you," Ryan ground out, "dancing is not a sport! It's too easy!"

"Dancers can jump just as high as you but when they come down they come down in plies, and then they stand pointe, and they stand like that for hours. If dancing was easy, it would be called football."

"Mommy! Listen to Woof!" Tristan told Izzy, smugly.

Izzy eyed him. "What did you do to him, Ryan Wolfe?"

"I didn't do anything, he just likes me."

"Okay, children," Anya interrupted, "let's just pull into the parking lot."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"I thought we were only getting lunch for us and Uncle Horatio? How did it become us and _the whole freaking building?!_"Anya grumbled, her arms full of empty McDonald's bags. She made her way back over to Horatio, who was holding Tristan. She took him and gave Horatio a kiss on the cheek. "Alright. Say bye-bye to Grampaw."

Horatio gave her a sharp look. "Why do you insist on him calling me that? Technically, I'm his uncle."

"Well, I don't know who his paternal grandparents are, and my mom is dead while my dad is currently serving thirty to life. I think you're the next best option." Anya said with a quick smile as she flounced out of the room. She exited the building to find Izzy and Ryan talking amiably. She put Tristan into his car seat and walked over to the front. "Hey, Ryan?"

He shifted from where he was sitting to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Oh...um...c-could we talk in pri-private?" she stuttered, suddenly aware of her sister's eyes on her as well. Ryan smirked and got up, brushing off his pants as he did so.

Anya pulled him around to the other side of the Hummer, away from her sister's prying gaze. She stopped and when he looked at her expectantly, she lost all train of thought completely. She suddenly felt compelled to kiss him, and without thinking, she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him to her. She stood on her tip toes and quickly brushed her lips against his. As she went to pull away, she was surprised to find his hand on the back of her neck, halting all of her movements. She gasped when she felt his tongue on her bottom lip, and Ryan took full advantage of her surprise.

After what seemed like minutes they pulled away for air. Anya began to lean in for another kiss when a movement over Ryan's shoulder caught her attention. She paused to look at it, and, had Ryan not been holding her tightly, she would have collapsed. For staring back at her, was her father.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Anya sat in the questioning room of Miami Dade PD, holding Tristan on the lap. Izzy was beside her giving her worried glances. "Anya, what do you mean you saw dad?" Izzy said.

"Izzy," Anya began angrily, "I don't know how to make this any clearer. Me and Ryan were..._talking_... and I looked over his shoulder, and Robert Martin was there! He looked me right in the eyes and smiled. I wasn't imagining it. He was there. I don't know why you won't believe me!"

"Anya, we want to believe you, but Dad's still in jail. He couldn't have been there. Maybe, you thought you saw him, but it was someone else. We can call Allie and have her check real quick. She works at the Police Department right?"

"No, she a lab technician. There's a difference." Anya paused. "But her husband Greg is a CSI, and he could access stuff like that easier. Hold on."

She pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through her contacts. When she came upon Greg's name, she grinned. She pressed call and waited for his cheery voice to fill the phone.

"Sanders." Came the greeting. Anya's smile faltered a little as she heard the slight seriousness as opposed to a quick, 'yellow'. Allie had told her that Greg did _not _want to screw up in any way, shape or form with Grissom, so this was something new to get used to. Professional Greg. Weird.

"Hey, Greggo. It's Anya," She heard a gasp and then what sounded like him choking.

"Do my ears deceive me? Is Anastasia Martin calling little ole' me?! What, did you lose Allie's number?"

"Ha, ha. No. I need you to do me a favor please."

"Hmm...what's in it for me?" Greg teased. He always was a complete flirt.

Anya laughed. "I'll give you back the sex tape that I made of you."

"Done!" Greg shouted. "Seriously though. What's up?"

"I need you to see if a man by the name of Robert Martin, has been released from jail."

"Your dad? I thought he was sentenced for life?"

"It's just a precaution." Anya said, trying not to be to revealing.

"Uh, sure. It's gonna take me a while though, so can I call you back?"

"Sure thing, Greg. And tell Allie and everybody I said 'hi' and that I miss them."

"You got it."

--

A/N: Okay, so I enjoyed writing this chapter so much! I was so excited to finally bring our villain into the story. I also used Allie, who respectively belongs to JauntyChick. Well, I kinda, used her. I mean, technically, she didn't make an appearance, but her name is there, so I had to mention who owns her!

Thank you to all my reviewers, I love them all and it makes me so happy to say that I have had no flames! And a special thank you to JauntyChick, who always BETA's me super fast!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter 13

_"Tell me, Anastasia, do I still frighten you?"_

Anya sat up in her bed, breathing hard and sweating. She looked at the clock and laughed at the time. 4:35 am. Which meant she had gone to sleep not three hours ago. She threw her legs over the bed and stumbled into the kitchen. Coffee. Her personal Jesus. She pulled herself up onto the counter and sat, thinking. She jumped when she felt a tug on her foot. She looked down and saw Tristan rubbing his bleary, fuzzy eyes. "Hey, sweetie. What's the matter?" she asked, soothingly.

"I had a bad dream. Can I have some breakfast?"

Anya laughed and shook her head. "It's kind of early for breakfast. Why don't you tell me about your dream?"

"Okay. Me and Woof was goin' down a river and all of a sudden we were DEAD! I don't know how but we were. And then Woof left and I was all alone! Oh, no!" Tristan yelled, suddenly. "We have to save Woof!"

Before Anya could move or even speak, Tristan ran out of the room and towards the door. She hopped off the counter and rushed after him, but the door was open and Tristan was banging on Ryan's door, screaming. "Tristan!" Anya loudly whispered, pointlessly. Neighbors were already looking out into the hall, and Tristan didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Ryan flung open his door and Anya almost cried. Tristan slammed into his legs and grabbed for him. Anya collapsed onto the ground and hung her head, throwing apologies at random people. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Ryan, who was holding Tristan's hand, smiling at her.

"Rough morning?" he asked.

"I haven't even had a cup of coffee..." she replied.

* * *

Two hours later they were sitting in Ryan's living room, Tristan was asleep, and Anya kept drifting. "If you want to take my bed you can," he told her for the hundredth time. She shook her head and smiled up at him.

"No, no. I'm fine. Let's just watch the news." She grabbed the remote and flicked the channels until she found CNN. Ryan sat on the couch beside her and watched TV until he felt something hit his shoulder. He looked down and saw a mass of black hair leaning against him. He smirked and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and laid his chin on her head. He didn't go to sleep, but he thought about his situation.

On the one hand, there was no denying that he was attracted to Anya. She was pretty, but it was much more than that. She was smart, funny, independent, and slightly insane, but that was what he liked about her. She could make him laugh, just by laughing herself. Her green eyes could look through even the most complex lies and she had a knack for getting in trouble. Maybe it was a hero complex he had, but he found that he didn't mind saving her. He wondered if this was what made people kill.

Staring at her, he realized that there was something wrong. Her past was terrible, true, but he had a feeling that she wasn't telling him something. "No..." Anya mumbled. Ryan looked down at her and quirked an eyebrow. She was moving now, and her face was contorted in something that resembled pain. "Let...me...go..." she murmured, slightly louder. He grabbed her shoulders and steadied her but she was hitting whoever it was that had her in her nightmares.

"Anya! Anya! Wake up!" he said, gently shaking her. Her eyes squeezed tighter, and then she opened them. She looked around wildly for a moment, not realizing where she was, until she met his eyes. She stared at him for a moment before she collapsed against his chest. His arms went around her, and she nestled her head into the crook of his neck.

"I'm sorry, Ryan..." she mumbled.

"What for?" he whispered.

"All I ever seem to do is cry around you," she said. He chuckled, and she glared up at him. "What's so funny?" she growled, and he couldn't help but think it was adorably cute.

"Anya, I care about you. It's alright if you cry around me." he spoke quietly, deeply, kissing her forehead. She looked up at him and smiled before quickly kissing his lips. Ryan pulled her closer and rested his head on hers. "Do you want to get some dinner later on?" he asked.

She peeked up at him from under her eyelashes. "You mean like a date?"

"Yes. Unless you prefer we go as colleagues instead of a couple." he said, nonchalantly.

She gasped and her eyes lit up. "You mean, you want me to be your girlfriend?"

He laughed, "I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

She gave a laugh and kissed him, very similar to that day outside the PD. They were still going at it when Anya's cell phone rang. "Hello?" she asked, breathlessly.

Greg's somber voice came through the other end. "Hey, Anya."

"Greg? What's wrong?" she asked, fearing the worst.

"I've got some not-so-good news. I pulled a search on your dad, and he's no longer in Las Vegas Penitentiary. It's almost like he's just...vanished." Greg trailed off, at a total loss in Las Vegas. Had Anya been able to speak she would have said something intelligent. Instead she simply handed the phone to Ryan and walked back to his bedroom.

* * *

"Hey, Valera," Calleigh said as she walked into the DNA lab. "Did you get my results back yet on the Thompson Case?"

Valera looked around for a moment before grabbing a manilla folder. "Um...yeah. We didn't get anything off the blood, but the partial you found got a hit in AFIS. The only problem is, our suspect is currently serving a life sentence in Las Vegas."

"Really? Who is it?" Calleigh asked intrigued.

"A Robert Martin. He has seven epithelials in common with Anya too. Oh, and check this out! I was doing a background check on Anya and her sister Isabella when I noticed something strange. Isabella's son, Tristan only has three strands of DNA in common with Isabella. He has seven in common with Anya."

Calleigh blinked. "Are you telling me, that Tristan...is _Anya's _son?"

"According to DNA, yes. And DNA does not lie." Valera shook a few strands of shimmery, straight hair out of her eyes.

"Hmm...that is interesting. I need to speak with Horatio. Thanks, Valera." Calleigh said, as she walked towards the door.

"Anytime."

* * *

Horatio sat in his office looking at the file that Calleigh handed him. He looked up at her and she frowned, deeply, noticing the look of concern spread over his face. "Horatio, what's going on?" she asked.

"Calleigh, I will tell you when the time is right, but now is not that time. What I need you to do is, I need you to call LVPD and ask to speak to Gilbert Grissom. I think a meeting is in order."

--

**A/N: Woot! Okay, I am soooooo sorry for the uber long update, but I filled this chapter with lots of nice fluff and drama. So please forgive it's shortness. I'm trying my best. **

**Next chapter we will be meeting our most favourite people from LV. Like: Grissom, Nick, Greg and...Allie! Woohoo! JauntyChick has given me full permission and I intend to use it! So please review and I will try to update faster.**


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

Grissom looked into the meeting room at his team, through the large window. He knew they were all as worried about Anya as he was, but this was still difficult. He felt incompetent, as though Robert Martin escaping prison was his fault.

He sighed at the thought and stepped into the room, placing his, or rather, Anya's, folder on the table.

"Grissom," Allie placed her hands on her hips, her voice laced with worry. "What's going on?"

"I presume you all remember Anastasia Elaine Martin?" he asked, more out of protocol than anything.

"You mean little Shadow Cat?" Nick laughed. "Who could forget her? I don't think I've ever seen anyone take Warrick down that fast!" Everyone gave a laugh, while Warrick glared.

"Yes, we have a problem. Robert Hugh Martin has escaped from Las Vegas Penitentiary. We have reason to believe that he's in Miami, Florida, thanks to some prints found at a crime scene."

There were multiple gasps, and then a deafening silence. Finally, Catherine spoke up. "Gil, what does this mean?"

"It means," he said, taking off his glasses, "that a small team and I are going to Florida. Nick, Warrick, Greg and Allie. I need you to go home and pack your bags and be at the airport at nine o'clock tomorrow morning." He stood and picked up the folder, heading for the door and not making a single iota of eye-contact with anyone. "If you need me, I'll be in my office."

He stepped out of the room, his thoughts somewhere across the country.

--

_"Horatio, I got in touch with Gilbert Grissom and he said that a small team is heading our way tomorrow. The rest of us are waiting to hear what I believe is a very interesting story." _

That was the message Horatio heard on his phone as he got out of the CSI department Hummer. A soon as Calleigh had gone, he left to get Anya, Isabella and Tristan. The boy had jumped on him, and wouldn't let go, almost throwing a fit as Anya attempted to buckle him into his booster seat. He received a sharp slap on his bottom, and now he was sulking with Ryan.  
When they finally made it to HQ, they pretty much flew to the break room, where Alexx, Valera, Calleigh and Eric - along with a few lab techs - were sitting waiting for the story.  
Horatio pointed Isabella and Tristan down the hall, so the boy wouldn't have to hear what needed to be said. He sat as well and looked to Anya to speak.

"Hi, everyone. Ah, I was kind of hoping I wouldn't have to explain this...but I guess there's no use in denying the truth anymore. Tristan...is my son. The day I turned 21, my friends took me out for a drink. Well you've seen how I hold alcohol. It turned out that I met this guy, and I let him take me home. Three months later, I found out about Tristan. After he was born, I kept him for a year. I had a steady veterinarian job, and he had Lucille. Well that's when I began getting these, uh, threatening phone calls. I refused to have Tristan in that kind of danger, so I sent him to New York to be with my sister. Mac Taylor, a CSI over there, told me that he would look after them." She looked down at her feet, as if she were deeply ashamed. "I didn't see him for two years. I knew he thought Izzy was his mother, and I was just this cool Aunt Anya. I don't regret it, but now my dad is loose, and he could be after my sister or me. I don't want Tristan to loose his mother the way I lost mine."

Calleigh stood and took her hand. "How would you like to come over to my house?"

--

"I'm not going over anymore if Calleigh is going to treat me like a Guinea Pig Barbie when I do." Anya complained to Ryan as he drove her to the airport the next day.

Ryan laughed good-naturedly. "I'm sure she only wanted to make you look nice for your friends." His tone then became serious. "Why didn't you tell us about Tristan?"

Anya flinched. "I do a good job of blocking painful, unnecessary things from my memory."

The rest of the trip was made in harmonic silence, until Ryan asked, "So, how was life after Tristan was born?"

Anya laughed this time. "I tried to be diplomatic with everyone, but mostly I just lied a lot."

The airport came into view, and Ryan soon found a parking spot. Anya couldn't help but notice that she had never had the joyous experience of finding a nice, decent parking spot that didn't leave her with only two inches to clamber out of her car.

Then came the panic. The flight was fifteen minutes late so far, and the loudspeaker had announced even more delays.

Anya had not stopped pacing, and Ryan was getting annoyed. This was ridiculous in the extreme. "Anya! I'm sure everything is absolutely fine. They're going to get here soon enough. Now, will you sit down?" Ryan said, as he grabbed her hand and pulled her into a seat.

"Sure, sure." She mumbled, growing more impatient by the nanosecond.

Another few minutes passed and then, result! "No, you don't understand!" A loud, carrying voice called from across the seating area. "That is my bag. Not yours."

Anya and Ryan turned to see a group of five very familiar people, one of which was in the midst of a tug-O-war with an angry Cuban woman. Anya smiled to herself and swiftly stood to address the situation, leaving Ryan discombobulated, yet amused. "Hola. Me llamo Anya, y éstos son mis amigos. ¿Hay allí algo que puedo hacer para ayudar?"

"Young lady, my English may not be so good, but I speak it. This-this, _bobo_ think my bag belong to him! This is mine!" The Cuban woman gestured madly to Nick, all the time with a very intense scowl across her handsome features.

"Miss. This is my bag. Look at the nametag. It says 'Nick Stokes'. That's me." Nick said, ever patient.

The woman look flustered and then ashamed. "I made a mistake. I am very sorry. Please forgive me."

Nick gave her a dazzling smile. "No worries." Soon enough, the Cuban woman returned to waiting on her own bag. Anya turned round and gestured for Ryan to get up and join her. Without much of a fight, he did. He sauntered up and folded his arms.

"Well, guys...you have a nice flight?" Anya smiled breezily. Everyone glanced at each other and shrugged. Warrick stood firmly beside Grissom, while Allie and Greg were so close, the slightest movement would make them touch.

"Would've been better if the pilot hadn't decided to start stopping while people were in the bathroom." Greg Sanders muttered, earning himself a very nice slap on the arm, courtesy of Allie Moore, now Sanders.

"Anya, it was delightful. He's just in a mood 'cause I stole his peanuts." "You look fabulous, by the way."

Anya looked down at her shambolic-self and blew the thought away with a wave of her hand, averting her attentions to everyone else in the group. "Gil Grissom, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, Greg Sanders and Allie, this is Ryan Wolfe." She gently nudged Ryan's side and he smiled only just and nodded his head once, briefly. After a few moments, the unwieldy introductions made, everyone made their way to Ryan's Hummer. It was a tight squeeze, but somehow - Greg sitting on Allie's knee, Anya stretched up right beside Warrick and quite a hassle with the suitcases - they managed to get to the hotel without too much of a trauma.


	15. Author's Note

Author's Note

Hey, guys. I'm so very sorry about the long wait, but my life has been so busy. See, my internet was shut-down, and I just recently got it back. During that time I was working on chapter fifteen, only to have my computer crash. I almost had all of the chapter done, and it erased it all!

So, it discouraged me. I went back to read my story, only to realize that it sucks. Terribly. So I've lost all inspiration, and I'm seriously considering taking this story down and starting over. 

I want to thank all of you who reviewed over the chapters. It made me feel really great, and I really appreciate it.

So for now, New Beginnings is temporarily on hold, until I get my inspiration back. Thanks for being there.

Love,

Kel

PS: On the up side, I've had inspiration for other stories, so be on the look-out.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter 15

The next morning found all the members on the Martin case yawning and greeting each other in the soft glow of the break room. Allie was prodding Greg, whose head kept falling forward onto his chest. "Greg," she said in a sing-song voice. "Greg, honey, wake up!"

Anya danced into the room, closely followed by Nick and Warrick. She smiled at Greg's sleeping form, and moved to stand in front of the couple. She gave a small wave to Allie before thrusting her coffee cup under Greg's nose. It twitched, and Anya couldn't help but laugh with Allie as Greg's eyes snapped opened.

"What is that? It smells horrible!" He exclaimed, gently shoving Anya's hand away.

"It's the smell of morning," Anya began before eyeing Greg. "You didn't happen to bring any of the good stuff, did you?"

Greg smirked. "Maybe..."

Anya opened her mouth to speak when Calleigh poked her head into the room. "Come on y'all. Grissom and Horatio say it's time to get busy." At this, everyone in the room immediately bounded up.

"So, Allie is going to work with Valera. Greg is with Ryan, Warrick with Eric, and Nick with Calleigh, right?" Anya questioned, making sure her friends knew where to go.

"Yup, that's about right. We'll meet up for lunch?" Allie waved as she walked towards the door, each person heading in their different directions.

"You got it!" Anya called back as she headed towards the morgue.

Anya gave a mild look of disgust as she reached into a recent victim. No matter how much she liked her job, she still got grossed out every now and then.

"How's it coming, baby?" Alexx smiled at the look she received.

"Ask me that again when I'm not up to my elbows in crack-addicted organs."

Their playful banter continued until a timid voice interrupted. "H-hello?"

Alexx took off her gloves and went to the door, while Anya finished up with the body and put it away. She smiled at the prospect of taking Allie and Greg to an authentic Cuban restaurant. She grabbed her purse and began to make her way to the door.

"Anya, wait a minute." Alexx called out to her. She turned to see Alexx gently leading a small woman over to her. The girl was quite pretty, with dark hair and large brown eyes. She was skinny, and Anya noticed that she had an unhealthy look to her. Her skin was very pale, which meant one of two things: either she wasn't from Miami originally, or she didn't get out much.

"What is it?" Anya asked softly.

"This is Kristen Noel. She just moved to Miami a few weeks ago. I think she has something very important to tell you." Alexx let them sit in her office, and she went to go get Horatio.

"Hi, I'm Anya—" she began, but the girl interrupted her.

"I know who you are. Apparently, we look the same from behind."

Anya looked at her with wonder. "What? Wh-what do you—" Realization struck her and she gasped with horror. "What did he do to you?"

Kristin gave her a grim smile. "He had a cloth, a really smelly cloth, and he put it over my face. I couldn't hold my breath anymore, and everything went black. When I woke up, I was locked in this small room, and then this guy came in, calling me 'Anastasia". When he discovered that I wasn't you, he told me to take a message. He gave me this."

She placed a small recording device on the table, and pressed play. The deep voice that haunted Anya's nightmares reverberated around the room. _"I know where you live Anastasia, and I think you should know that _Ryan Wolfe_, and _Horatio Caine_ aren't safe. You'd better keep a close eye on Isabella and the boy. You never know when something might. Just. Happen."_

A hand fell onto her shoulder, and she looked u p into Horatio's narrowed blue eyes. "Uncle Horatio? Wh-wh—" she couldn't seem to get her words out.

"Anya, listen to me. I can protect you, but only if you do as I say. I need you to go home and get a bag packed. Only essentials. Take Mrs. Sanders with you. Come back with Isabella and Tristan. Make no stops, talk to no one."

Anya deftly stood, and left for the DNA lab. She stood outside the door, and gestured for Allie to come with her.

"Anya, what's happening?"

"He knows where I live, Allie. He knows about Ryan. H-he knows about Tristan! We have to go to my apartment. Hurry!"

She raced down the stairs, Allie close on her heels, begging her to slow down. Before she could get into her car, Allie grabbed her hand. "Maybe I should drive…"

A/N: I know, I know. 'We waited forever for THIS?" Please excuse its crappiness. I know it's not my usual standard, but I'm getting back into this game. Please bear with me, and review.

With love,

Kel

PS. It's short, I know. It's like a child. It'll grow fast enough.


End file.
